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

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

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Of the <strong>Holy</strong> Trinity, the Incarnation, the invocation of Saints, <strong>and</strong> their Images.Letter CCCLX. 3289Of the <strong>Holy</strong> Trinity, the Incarnation, the invocation of Saints, <strong>and</strong> their Images.According to the blameless faith of the Christians which we have obtained from God,I confess <strong>and</strong> agree that I believe in one God the Father Almighty; God the Father, God theSon, God the <strong>Holy</strong> Ghost; I adore <strong>and</strong> worship one God, the Three. 3290 I confess to theœconomy of the Son in the flesh, 3291 <strong>and</strong> that the holy Mary, who gave birth to Him accordingto the flesh, was Mother of God. 3292 I acknowledge also the holy apostles, prophets,<strong>and</strong> martyrs; <strong>and</strong> I invoke them to supplication to God, that through them, that is, throughtheir mediation, the merciful God may be propitious to me, <strong>and</strong> that a ransom may be made<strong>and</strong> given me for my sins. Wherefore also I honour <strong>and</strong> kiss the features of their images,inasmuch as they have been h<strong>and</strong>ed down from the holy apostles, <strong>and</strong> are not forbidden,but are in all our churches.3289 This letter is almost undoubtedly spurious, but it has a certain interest, from the fact of its having beenquoted at the so-called 7th Council (2d of Nicæa) in 787. Maran (Vit. Bas. xxxix.) is of opinion that it is provedby internal evidence to be the work of some Greek writer at the time of the Iconoclastic controversy. Thevocabulary <strong>and</strong> style are unlike that of <strong>Basil</strong>.3290 Neuter sc. πρόσωπα, not ὑποστάσεις, as we should expect in <strong>Basil</strong>.3291 ἔνσαρκον οἰκονομίαν, an expression I do not recall in <strong>Basil</strong>’s genuine writings.3292 Θεοτόκον, the watchword of the Nestorian controversy, which was after <strong>Basil</strong>’s time.927

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