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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 08 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 28.01.07 St. Basil On the Spirit Pt 7
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62. It is an extraordinary statement, but it is none the less true, that the Spirit is frequently spoken of as the place of them that are being sanctified, and it will become evident that even by this figure the Spirit, so far from being degraded, is rather glorified. For words applicable to the body are, for the sake of clearness, frequently transferred in scripture to spiritual conceptions. Accordingly we find the Psalmist, even in reference to God, saying "Be Thou to me a champion God and a strong place to save me"hyperlink and concerning the Spirit "behold there is place by me, and stand upon a rock."hyperlink Plainly meaning the place or contemplation in the Spirit wherein, after Moses had entered thither, he was able to see God intelligibly manifested to him. This is the special and peculiar place of true worship; for it is said "Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place . . . but in the place the Lord thy God shall choose."hyperlink Now what is a spiritual burnt offering? "The sacrifice of praise."hyperlink And in what place do we offer it? In the Holy Spirit. Where have we learnt this? From the Lord himself in the words "The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."hyperlink This place Jacob saw and said "The Lord is in this place."hyperlink It follows that the Spirit is verily the place of the saints and the saint is the proper place forthe Spirit, offering himself as he does for the indwelling of God, and called God's Temple.hyperlink So Paul speaks in Christ, saying "In the sight of God we speak in Christ,"hyperlink and Christ in Paul, as he himself says "Since ye seek a proof ne Christ speaking in me."hyperlink So also in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries,hyperlink and again the Spirit speaks in him.hyperlink
63. In relation to the originate,hyperlink then, the Spirit is said to be in them"in divers portions and in divers manners,"hyperlink while in relation to the Father and the Son it is more consistent with true religion to assert Him not to be in but to be with. For the grace flowing from Him when He dwells in those that are worthy, and carries out His own operations, is well described as existing in those that are able to receive Him. On the other hand His essential existence before the ages, and His ceaseless abiding with Son and Father, cannot be contemplated without requiring titles expressive of eternal conjunction. For absolute and real co-existence is predicated in the case of things which are mutually inseparable. We say, for instance, that beat exists in the hot iron, but in the case of the actual fire it co-exists; and, similarly, that health exists in the body, but that life co-exists with the soul. It follows that wherever the fellowship is intimate, congenital,hyperlink and inseparable, the word with is more expressive, suggesting, as it does, the idea of inseparable fellowship. Where on the other hand the grace flowing from the Spirit naturally comes and goes, it is properly and truly said to exist in, even if on account of the firmness of the recipients' disposition to good the grace abides with them continually. Thus whenever we have in mind the Spirit's proper rank, we contemplate Him as being with the Father and the Son, but when we think of the grace that flows from Him operating on those who participate in it, we say that the Spirit is in us. And the doxology which we offer "in the Spirit" is not an acknowledgment of His rank; it is rather a confession of our own weakness, while we shew that we are not sufficient to glorify Him of ourselves, but our sufficiencyhyperlink is in the Holy Spirit. Enabled in, [or by,] Him we render thanks to our God for the benefits we have received, according to the measure of our purification from evil, as we receive one a larger and another a smaller share of the aid of the Spirit, that we may offer "the sacrifice of praise to God."hyperlink According to one use, then, it is thus that we offer our thanksgiving, asthe true religion requires, in the Spirit; although it is not quite unobjectionable that any one should testify of himself "the Spirit of God is in me, and I offer glory after being made wise through the grace that flows from Him." For to a Paul it is becoming to say "I think also that I have the Spirit of God,"hyperlink and again, "that good thing which was committed to thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us."hyperlink And of Daniel it is fitting to say that "the Holy Spirit of God is in him,"hyperlink and similarly of men who are like these in virtue.
64. Another sense may however be given to the phrase, that just as the Father is seen in the Son, so is the Son in the Spirit. The "worship in the Spirit" suggests the idea of the operation of our intelligence being carried on in the light, as may be learned from the words spoken to the woman of Samaria. Deceived as she was by the customs of her country into the belief that worship was local, our Lord, with the object of giving her better instruction, said that worship ought to be offered "in Spirit and in Truth,"hyperlink plainly meaning by the Truth, Himself. As then we speak of the worship offered in the Image of God the Father as worship in the Son, so too do we speak of worship in the Spirit as shewing in Himself the Godhead of the Lord. Wherefore even in our worship the Holy Spirit is inseparable from the Father and the Son. If you remain outside the Spirit you will not be able even to worship at all; and on your becoming in Him you will in no wise be able to dissever Him from God;-any more than you will divorce light from visible objects. For it is impossible to behold the Image of the invisible God except by the enlightenment of the Spirit, and impracticable for him to fix his gaze on the Image to dissever the light from the Image, because the cause of vision is of necessity seen at the same time as the visible objects. Thus fitly and consistently do we behold the "Brightness of the glory" of God by means of the illumination of the Spirit, and by means of the "Express Image" we are led up to Him of whom He is the Express Image and Seal, graven to the like.hyperlink
Chapter XXVII
Of the origin of the word "with," and what force it has. Also concerning the unwritten laws of the church.
65. The word "in" say our opponents, "is exactly appropriate to the Spirit, and sufficient for every thought concerning Him. Why then, they ask, have we introduced this new phrase, saying, "with the Spirit" instead of "in the Holy Spirit," thus employing an expression which is quite unnecessary, and sanctioned by no usage in the churches? Now it has been asserted in the previous portion of this treatise that the word "in" has not been specially allotted to the Holy Spirit, but is common to the Father and the Son. It has also been, in my opinion, sufficiently demonstrated that, so far from detracting anything from the dignity of the Spirit, it leads all, but those whose thoughts are wholly perverted, to the sublimest height. It remains for me to trace the origin of the word "with;" to explain what force it has, and to shew that it is in harmony with Scripture.
66.hyperlink Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Churchhyperlink some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us "in a mystery"hyperlink by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force. And these no one will gainsay;-no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more.hyperlink For instance, to take the first and most general example, who is thence who has taught us in writing to sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? What writing has taught us to turn to the East at the prayer? Which of the saints has left us in writing the words of tim invocation at the displayinghyperlink of the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of blessing? For we are not, as is well known, content with what the apostle or the Gospel has recorded, but both in preface and conclusion we add other words as being of great importance to the validity of the ministry, and these we derive from unwritten teaching. Moreover we bless the water of baptism andthe oil of the chrism, and besides this the catechumen who is being baptized. On what written authority do we do this? Is not our authority silent and mystical tradition? Nay, by what written word is the anointing of oilhyperlink itself taught? And whence comes the custom of baptizing thrice?hyperlink And as to the other customs of baptism from what Scripture do we derive the renunciation of Satan and his angels? Does not this come from that unpublished and secret teaching which oar fathers guarded in a silence out of the reach of curious meddling and inquisitive investigation? Well had they learnt the lesson that the awful dignity of the mysteries is best preserved by silence. What the uninitiated are not even allowed: to look at was hardly likely to be publiclyparaded about in written documents. What was the meaning of the mighty Moses in not making all the parts of the tabernacle open to every one? The profane he stationed without the sacred barriers; the first courts he conceded to the purer; the Levites alone he judged worthy of being servants of the Deity; sacrifices and burnt offerings and the rest of the priestly functions he allotted to the priests; one chosen out of all he admitted to the shrine, and even this one not always but on only one day in the year, and of this one day a time was fixed for his entry so that he might gaze on the Holy of Holies amazed at the strangeness and novelty of the sight. Moses was wise enough to know that contempt stretches to the trite and to the obvious, while a keen interest is naturally associated with the unusual and the unfamiliar. In the same manner the Apostles and Fathers who laid down laws for the Church from the beginning thus guarded the awful dignity of the mysteries in secrecy and silence, for what is bruited abroad random among the common folk is no mystery at all. This is the reason for our tradition of unwritten precepts and practices, that the knowledge of our dogmas may not become neglected and contemned by the multitude through familiarity. "Dogma" and "Kerugma" are two distinct things; the former is observed in silence; the latter is proclaimed to all the world. One form of this silence is the obscurity employed in Scripture, which makes the meaning of "dogmas" difficult to be understood for the very advantage of the reader: Thus we all look to the Easthyperlink at our prayers, but few of us know that we are seeking our own old country,hyperlink Paradise, which God planted in Eden in the East.hyperlink We pray standing,hyperlink on the first day of the week, but we do not all know the reason. On the day of the resurrection (or "standing again" Grk. a0na/stasij we remind ourselves of the grace given to us by standing at prayer, not only because we rose with Christ,hyperlink and are bound to "seek those things which are above,"hyperlink but because the day seems to us to be in some sense an image of the age which we expect, wherefore, though it is the beginning of days, it is not called by Moses first, but one.hyperlink For he says "There was evening, and therewas morning, one day," as though the same day often recurred. Now "one and "eighth" are the same, in itself distinctly indicating that really "one" and "eighth" of which the Psalmist makes mention in certain titles of the Psalms, the state which follows after this present time, the day which knows no waning or eventide, and no successor, that age which endeth not or groweth old.hyperlink Of necessity, then, the church teaches her own foster children to offer their prayers on that day standing, to the end that through continual reminder of the endless life we may not neglect to make provision for our removal thither. Moreover all Pentecost is a reminder of the resurrection expected in the age to come. For that one and first day, if seven times multiplied by seven, completes the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost; for, beginning at the first, Pentecost ends with the same, making fifty revolutions through the like intervening days. And so it is a likeness of eternity, beginning as it does and ending, as in a circling course, at the same point. On this day the rules of the church have educated us to prefer the upright attitude of prayer, for by their plain reminder they, as It were, make our mind to dwell no longer in the present but in the future. Moreover every time we fall upon our knees and rise from off them we shew by the very deed that by our sin we fell down to earth, and by the loving kindness of our Creator were called hack to heaven.
67. Time will fail me if I attempt to recount the unwritten mysteries of the Church. Of the rest I say nothing; but of the very confession of our faith in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, what is the written source? If it be granted that, as we are baptized, so also under the obligation to believe, we make our confession in like terms as our baptism, in accordance with the tradition of our baptism and in conformity with the principles of true religion, let our opponents grant us too the right to be as consistent in our ascription of glory as in our confession of faith. If they deprecate our doxology on the ground that it lacks written authority, let them give us the written evidence for theconfession of our faith and the other matters which we have enumerated. While the unwritten traditions are so many, and their bearing on "the mystery of godlinesshyperlink is so important, can they refuse to allow us a single word which has come down to us from the Fathers;-which we found, derived from untutored custom, abiding in unperverted churches;-a word for which the arguments are strong, and which contributes in no small degree to the completeness of the force of the mystery?
68. The force of both expressions has now been explained. I will proceed to state once more wherein they agree and wherein they differ from one another;-not that they are opposed in mutual antagonism, but that each contributes its own meaning to true religion. The preposition "in" states the truth rather relatively to ourselves; while "with" proclaims the fellowship of the Spirit with God. Wherefore we use both words, by the one expressing the dignity of the Spirit; by the other announcing the grace that is with us. Thus we ascribe glory to God both "in" the Spirit, and "with" the Spirit; and herein it is not our word that we use, but we follow the teaching of the Lord as we might a fixed rule, and transfer His word to things connected and closely related, and of which the conjunction in the mysteries is necessary. We have deemed ourselves under a necessary obligation to combine in our confession of the faith Him who is numbered with Them at Baptism, and we have treated the confession of the faith as the origin and parent of the doxology. What, then, is to be done? They must now instruct us either not to baptize as we have received, or not to believe as we were baptized, or not to ascribe glory as we have believed. Let any man prove if he can that the relation of sequence in these acts is not necessary and unbroken; or let any man deny if he can that innovation here must mean ruin everywhere. Yet they never stop dinning in our ears that the ascription of glory "with" the Holy Spirit is unauthorized and unscriptural and the like. We have stated that so far as the sense goes it is the same to say "glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost," and glory be to the Father and to the Son with the Holy Ghost." It is impossible for any one to reject or cancel the syllable "and," which is derived from the very words of our Lord, and there is nothing to hinder the acceptance of its equivalent. What amount of difference and similarity there is between the two we have already shewn. And our argument is confirmed by the fact that the Apostle uses either word indifferently,-saying at one time "in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God ;"hyperlink at another "when ye are gathered together, and my Spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,"hyperlink with no idea that it makes any difference to the connexion of the names whether he use the conjunction or the preposition.
Chapter XXVIII
That our opponents refuse to concede in the case of the Spirit the terms which Scripture uses in the case of men, as reigning together with Christ.
69. But let us see if we can bethink us of any defence of this usage of our fathers; for they who first originated the expression are more open to blame than we ourselves. Paul in his Letter to the Colossians says, "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision ... hath He quickened together with"hyperlink Christ. Did then God give to a whole people and to the Church the boon of the life with Christ, and yet the life with Christ does not belong to the Holy Spirit? But if this is impious even to think of, is it not rightly reverent so to make our confession, as They are by nature in close conjunction? Furthermore what boundless lack of sensibility does it not shew in these men to confess that the Saints are with Christ,(if, as we know is the case, Paul, on becoming absent from the body, is present with the Lord,hyperlink and, after departing, is with Christhyperlink ) and, so far as lies in their power, to refuse to allow to the Spirit to be with Christ even to the same extent as men? And Paul calls himself a "labourer together with God"hyperlink in the dispensation of the Gospel; will they bring an indictment for impiety against us, if we apply the term "fellow-labourer" to the Holy Spirit, through whom in every creature under heaven the Gospel bringeth forth fruit?hyperlink The life of them that have trusted in the Lord "is hidden," it would seem, "with Christ in God, and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall" they themselves also "appear with Him in glory;"hyperlink and is the Spirit of life Himself, "Who made us free from the law of sin,"hyperlink not with Christ, both in the secret and hidden life with Him, and in the manifestation of the glory which we expect to be manifested in the saints? We are "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,"hyperlink and is the Spirit without part or lot in the fellowship of God and of His Christ? "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God;"hyperlink and are we not to allow to the Spirit even that testimony of His fellowship with God which we have learnt from the Lord? For the height of folly is reached if we through the faith in Christ which is in the Spirithyperlink hope that we shall be raised together with Him and sit together in heavenly places,hyperlink whenever He shall change our vile body from the natural to the spiritual,hyperlink and yet refuse to assign to the Spirit any share in the sitting together, or in the glory, or anything else which we have received from Him. Of all the boons of which, in accordance with the indefeasible grant of Him who has promised them, we have believed ourselves worthy, are we to allow none to the Holy Spirit, as though they were all above His dignity? It is yours according to your merit to be "ever with the Lords" and you expect to be caught up" in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and to be ever with the Lord."hyperlink You declare the man who numbers and ranks the Spirit with the Father and the Son to be guilty of intolerable impiety. Can you really now deny that the Spirit is with Christ?
70. I am ashamed to add the rest. You expect to be glorified together with Christ; ("if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together;"hyperlink ) but you do not glorify the "Spirit of holiness"hyperlink together with Christ, as though He were not worthy to receive equal honour even with you. You hope to "reign with"hyperlink Christ; but you" do despite unto the Spirit of grace"hyperlink by assigning Him the rank of a slave and a subordinate. And I say this not to demonstrate that so much is due to the Spirit in the ascription of glory, but to prove the unfairness of those who will not ever give so much as this, and shrink from the fellowship of the Spirit with Son and Father as from impiety. Who could touch on these things without a sigh?hyperlink Is it not so plain as to be within the perception even of a child that this presentstate of things preludes the threatened eclipseof the faith? The undeniable has become the uncertain. We profess belief in the Spirit, and then we quarrel with our own confessions. We are baptized, and begin to fight again. We call upon Him as the Prince of Life, and then despise Him as a slave like ourselves. We received Him with the Father and the Son, and we dishonour Him as a part of creation. Those who "know not what they ought to pray for,"hyperlink even though they be induced to utter a word of the Spirit with awe, as though coming near His dignity, yet prune down all that exceeds the exact proportion of their speech.They ought rather to bewail their weakness, in that we are powerless to express in words our gratitude for the benefits which we are actually receiving; for He "passes all understanding,"hyperlink and convicts speech of its natural inability even to approach His dignity in the least degree; as it is written in the Book of Wisdom,hyperlink "Exalt Him as much as you can, for even yet will He far exceed; and when you exalt Him put forth all your strength, and be not weary, for you can never go far enough." Verily terrible is the account to be given for words of this kind by you who have heard from God who cannot lie that for blasphemy against the Holy Ghost there is no forgiveness.hyperlink
Footnotes
540 1 Cor. xii. 25.
541 1 Cor. xii. 26.
542 An inversion of 1 Cor. xii. 13.
543 Ex. xxxiii. 21, Lxx.
544 Deut. xii. 13, 14.
545 Ps. l. 14, LXX.
546 John iv. 23. With this interpretation, cf. Athan., Epist. i. Ad Serap. § 33, "Hence it is shewn that the Truth is the Son Himself. . . for they worship the Father, but in Spirit and in Truth, confessing the Son and the Spirit in him; for the Spirit is inseparable from the Son as the Son is inseparable from the Father."
547 Gen. xxviii. 16.
548 1 Cor. vi. 19.
549 2 Cor. ii. 17.
550 2 Cor. xiii. 3.
551 1 Cor. xiv. 2.
552 1 Peter i. 11.
553 e'n to =j genhtoi=j, as in the Bodleian ms. The Benedictine text adopts the common reading gennhtoij, with the note, "Sed discrimen illud parvi momenti." If St. Basil wrote gennhtoi=j, he used it in the looser sense of mortal: in its strict sense of "begotten" it would be singularly out of place here, as the antithesis of the reference to the Son, who is gennhto/j, would be spoilt. In the terminology of theology, so far from being "parvi momenti," the distinction is vital. In the earlier Greek philosophy a'ge/nhtoj and a'ge/nnhtoj are both used as nearly synonymous to express unoriginate eternal. cf. Plat., Phaed. D., a'rxh\ de\ a'ge/nhto/n, with Plat, Tim. 52 A., Toutwn de\ ou!twj e'xo/ntwn o 9mologhte/on e$n me\n ei\nai to kata\ tau'ta\ ei\doj e!xon a'ge/nnhton kai\ a'nw/leqron. And the earliest patristic use similarly meant by gennhto/j and a'ge/nnhtoj created and uncreated, as in Ign., Ad Eph. vii., where our Lord is called gennhto\j kai\ a'ge/nnhtoj. e'n a'ndr o/pw Qeo\j, e'n qana/tw zwh= a'lhqinh/. cf. Bp. Lightfoot's note. But "such language is not in accordance with later theological definitions, which carefully distinguished between genhto/j and gennhto/j. between a'ge/nhtoj and a'ge/nnhtoj; so that genhto/j, a'ge/nhtoj, respectively denied and affirmed the eternal existence, being equivalent to ktisto/j, a!ktistoj, , while gennhto/j, a'ge/nnhtoj described certain ontological relations, whether in time or in eternity. In the later theological language, therefore, the Son was gennrto/j even in His Godhead. See esp. Joann. Damasc., De Fid. Orth. I. 8 (I. p. 135, Lequin), xrh\ ga\r ei/de/nai o!ti to\ a'ge/nhton, dia\ tou= e 9no\j n grafo/menon, to\ a!ktiston h! to\ mh\ geno/menon shmai/nei, to\ de\ a'ge/nnhton, dia\ tw=n du/o nn grafomenon, dhloi= to\ mh\ gennhqe/n; whence he draws the conclusion that mo/noj o 9 path\o a'ge/nnhtoj and mo/noj o 9 ui'o\j gennhto/j." Bp. Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers, Pt. II. Vol. II. p. 90, where the history of the worlds is exhaustively discussed. At the time of the Arian controversy the Catholic disputants were chary of employing these terms, because of the base uses to which their opponents put them; so St. Basil, Contra Eunom. iv. protests against the Arian argument ei/ a'ge/nnhtoj o' path\r gennhto\j de\ o' ui/oj, ou'siaj.
cf. Ath., De Syn. in this series, p. 475, and De Decretis., on Newman's confusion of the terms, p. 149 and 169.
554 Heb. i. 1.
555 sumfuh/j.
556 cf. 2 Cor. iii. 5.
557 Heb. xiii. 15.
558 1 Cor. vii. 40.
559 2 Tim. I. 14.
560 Dan. iv. 8, lxx.
561 John iv. 24.
562 cf. note on § 15. So Athan. in Matt. xi. 22. Sfragi/j ga/r e'stin i'so/tupoj e'n e 9antw= delknu/j to\n pate/ra . cf. Athan., De Dec. § 20, and note 9 in this series, p. 163. cf. also Greg. Nyss., In Eunom. ii. 12.
563 The genuineness of this latter portion of the Treatise was objected to by Erasmus on the ground that the style is unlike that of Basil's soberer writings. Bp. Jeremy Taylor follows Erasmus (Vol. vi. ed. 1852, p. 427). It was vindicated by Casaubon, who recalls St. John Damascene's quotation of the Thirty Chapters to Amphilochius. Mr. C. F. H. Johnston remarks, "The later discovery of the Syriac Paraphrases of the whole book pushes back this argument to about one hundred years from the date of St. Basil's writing. The peculiar care taken by St. Basil for the writing out of the treatise, and for its safe arrival in Amphilochius' hands, and the value set upon it by the friends of both, make the forgery of half the present book, and the substitution of it for the original within that period, almost incredible." Section 66 is quoted as an authoritative statement on the right use of Tradition "as a guide to the right understanding of Holy Scripture, for the right ministration of the Sacraments, and the preservation of sacred rights and ceremonies in the purity of their original institution," in Philaret's Longer Catechism of the Eastern Church.
St. Basil is, however, strong on the supremacy of Holy Scripture, as in the passages quoted in Bp. H. Browne, On the xxxix Articles: "Believe those things which are written; the things which are not written seek not." (Hom. xxix. adv. Calum. S. Trin.) "It is a manifest defection from the faith, and a proof of arrogance, either to reject anything of what is written, or to introduce anything that is not." (De Fide. i.) cf. also Letters CV. and CLIX. On the right use of Tradition cf. Hooker, Ecc. Pol. lxv. 2, "Lest, therefore, the name of tradition should be offensive to any, considering how far by some it hath been and is abused, we mean by traditions ordinances made in the prime of Christian Religion, established with that authority which Christ hath left to His Church for matters indifferent, and in that consideration requisite to be observed, till like authority see just and reasonable causes to alter them. So that traditions ecclesiastical are not rudely and in gross to be shaken off, because the inventors of them were men."
cf. Tert., De Praes . 36, 20, 21, "Constat omnem doctrinam quae cum illis eccleiis apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fedei conspiret veritai deputandam, id sine dubio tenentem quod ecclesiae ab apostolis, apostoli a Christo, Christus a Deo accepit ." Vide Thomasius, Christ. Dogm. I. 105.
564 tw/n e'n th= Ekklhsi/a pefnlagme/nwn donma/twn kai\ khrugma/twn." To give the apparent meaning of the original seems impossible except by some such paraphrase as the above. In Scripture do/gma, which occurs five times (Luke ii. 1, Acts xvi. 4, xvii. 7, Eph. ii. 15, and Col. ii 14), always has its proper sense of decree or ordinances. cf. Bp. Lightfoot, on Col. ii. 14, and his contention that the Greek Fathers generally have mistaken the force of the passage in understanding do/gmata in both Col. and Eph. to mean the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel. Kh/rugma occurs eight times (Matt. xii. 41, Luke xi. 32, Rom. xvi. 25, 1 Cor. i. 21, ii. 4, xv. 14, 2 Tim iv. 17, and Tit. i. 3), always in the sense of preaching or proclamation.
"The later Christian sense of do/gma, meaning doctrine, came from its secondary classical use, where it was applied to the authoritative and categorical 'sentences' of the philosophers: cf. Just. Mart., Apol. i. 7. oi/ e'!/ Ellhsi tu\ au'toi=j a'restu\oogmati/sa/tej e'k panto/j tw= eni\ ono/mati filosof aj prosagoreu/onta, kai/per tu.n dogma/twn e'nanti/wn o!ntwn." [All the sects in general among the Greeks are known by the common name of philosophy, through their doctrines are different.] Cic., Acad. ii. 19. 'De suis decretis quae philosophi vocant dogmata.' . . . There is an approach towards the ecclesiastical meaning in Ignat., Mag. 13, bebaiwdh=sai e'n toi=j do/gmasi tou= kuri/ou kai\ tw=n apostolwn." Bp. Lightfoot in Col. ii. 14. The "doctrines" of heretics are also called do/gmata, as in Basil, Ep. CCLXI. and Socr., E. H. iii. 10. cf. Bp. Bull, in Serm. 2, "The dogmata or tenets of the Sadducees." In Orig., c. Cels. iii. p. 135, Ed. Spencer, 1658, do/gma is used of the gospel or teaching of our Lord.
The special point about St. Basil's use of do/gmata is that he uses the word of doctrines and practices privately and tacitly sanctioned in the Church (like apo/rrhta, which is used of the esoteric doctrine of the Pythagoreans, Plat., Phaed. 62.B.), while he reserves khru/gmata for what is now often understood by do/gmata, i.e. "legitima synodo decreta." cf. Ep. LII., where he speaks of the great kh/rugma of the Fathers at Nicaea. In this he is supported by Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, 579-607, of whom Photius (Cod. ccxxx. Migne Pat. Gr. ciii. p. 1027) writes, "In this work," i.e. Or. II. "he says that of the doctrines (didagma/twn) handed down in the church by the ministers of the word, some are do/gmata, and others khru/gmata. The distinction is that do/gmata are announced with concealment and prudence, and are often designedly compassed with obscurity, in order that holy things may not be exposed to profane persons nor pearls cast before swine. Khru/gmata, on the other hand, are announced without any concealment." So the Benedictine Editors speak of Origen (c. Cels. i. 7) as replying to Celsus, "praedicationem Christianorum toti orbi notiorem essquam placita philosophorum: sed tamen fatetur, ut opud philosophos, ita etiam apud Christianos nonulla esse veluti interiora, quae post exteriorem et propositam omnibus doctrinam tradantur." Of khru/gata they note, "Videntur hoc nomine designari leges ecclesiasticae et canonum decreta quae promulgari in ecclesia mos erat, ut neminem laterent." Mr. C. F. H. Johnston remarks: "The o 9uoou/sion, which many now-a-days would call the Nicene dogma (tu\ tou= o 9moonsi/on do/gmata, Soc., E.H. iii. 10) because it was put forth in the Council of Nicaea, was for that reason called not do/gma, but kh/rugma, by St. Basil, who would have said that it became the kh/ougma (definition) of that Council, because it had always been the do/gma of the Church."
In extra theological philosophy a dogma has all along meant a certainly expressed opinion whether formally decreed or not. So Shaftesbury, Misc. Ref. ii. 2, "He who is certain, or presumes to say he knows, is in that particular whether he be mistaken or in the right a dogmatist." cf. Littré S.V. for a similar use in French. In theology the modern Roman limitation of dogma to decreed doctrine is illustrated by the statement of Abbé Bérgier (Dict de Théol. Ed. 1844) of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. "Or, nous convenons que ce n'est pas un dogme de foi," because, thought a common opinion among Romanists, it had not been so asserted at the Council of Trent. Since the publication of Pius IX's Edict of 1854 it has become, to ultramontanists, a "dogma of faith."
565 1 Cor. ii. 7. Whether there is or is not here a conscious reference to St. Paul's words, there seems to be both in the text and in the passage cited an employment of musth/rion in its proper sense of a secret revealed to the initiated.
566 i.e. if nothing were of weight but what was written, what need of any authorisation at all? There is no need of khrugma for a do/gma expressly written in Scripture.
567 e'pi\ th= a'nadeicei. The Benedictine note is: "Non respicit Basilius ad ritum ostensionis Eucharistiae, ut multi existimarunt, sed potius ad verba Liturgiaeipsi ascriptae, cum petit sacerdos, ut veniat Spiritus sanctus a 9gia/sai kai a'nadei=cai to\n me\n a!rton tou=ton au'to\ to\ ti/mion sw=ma tou= kuri/ou. Haec autem verba e'pi\ th= a'/adeicei, sic reddit Erasmus, cum ostenditur. Vituperat eum Ducaeus; sicque ipse vertit, cum conficitur, atque hanc interpretationem multis exemplis confirmat. Videtur tamen nihil prorsus vitii habitura a haec interpretatio, Invocationis verba cum ostenditur panis Eucharistiae, id est, cum panis non jam panis est, sed panis Eucharistiae, sive corpus Christi ostenditur; et in liturgia, ut sanctitficet et ostendat hunc quidem panem, ipsum pretiosum corpus Domini. Nam io Cur eam vocem reformidemus, qua Latini uti non dubitant, ubi de Eucharistia ioquuntur? Quale est illud Cypriani in epistola 63 ad Caecilium: Vino Christi sanguis ostenditur. Sic etiam Tertullianus I. Marc. c. 14: Panem quo ipsum corpus suum repraesentat 20 Ut Graece a'nadei=cai, apofai/nein , ita etiam Latine, ostendere, corpus Christi praesens in Eucharistia significatione quadam modo exprimit. Hoc enim verbum non solum panem fieri corpus Domini significat, sed etiam fidem nostram excitat, ut illud corpus sub specie panis videndum, tegendum, adorandum astendi credamus. Quemadmodum Irenaeus, cum ait lib. iv. cap. 33: Accipiens panem suum corpus esse confitebatur, et temperamentum calicis suum sanguinem conformavit, non solum mutationem panis et vini in corpus et sanguinem Christi exprimit, sed ipsam etiam Christi asseverationem, quae hanc nobis mutationem persuadet; sic qui corpus Christi in Eucharistia ostendi et repraesentari dicunt, non modo jejuno et exiliter loqui non videntur, sed etiam acriores Christi praesentis adorandi stimulos subjicere. Poterat ergo retineri interpretatio Erasmi: sed quia viris eruditis displicuit, satius visum est quid sentirem in hac nota exponere."
This view of the meaning of a'nadei/knusqai and a1NA'DEICIj as being equivalent to poieisn and poi/hsij is borne out and illustrated by Suicer, S.V. "Ex his jam satis liquere arbitror a'uadeicai apud Basilium id esse quod alii Graei patres dicunt poiei=n vel a'pofai/nein sw=ma xristou=."
It is somewhat curious to find Bellarmine (De Sacr. Euch. iv. § 14) interpreting the prayer to God eu'logh=sai kai\ a 9lia/j I kai\ a'nadei=cai to mean "ostende per effectum salutarem in mentibus nostris istum panem salutificatum non esse panem vulgarem sed coelestem."
568 For the unction of catechumens cf. Ap. Const. vii. 22; of the baptized, Tertullian, De Bapt. vii.; of the confirmed, id. viii.; of the sick vide Plumptre on St. James v. 14, in Cambridge Bible for Schools. cf. Letter clxxxviii.
569 For trine immersion an early authority is Tertullian, c. Praxeam xxvi. cf. Greg. Nyss., De Bapt. u#dati e 9autou\j e'gkru/promen . . . kai\ tri/ton tou=to poih/santej. Dict. Ch. Ant. i. 161.
570 cf. my note on Theodoret in this series, p. 112.
571 Heb. xi. 14, R.V.
572 Gen. ii. 8.
573 The earliest posture of prayer was standing, with the hands extended and raised towards heaven, and with the face turned to the East. cf. early art, and specially the figures of "oranti." Their rich dress indicates less their actual station in this life than the expected felicity of Paradise. Vide, Dict. Christ. Ant. ii. 1684.
574 "Stood again with" - sunanasta/ntej.
575 Col. iii. 1.
576 Gen. i. 5. Heb. LXX. Vulg. R.V. cf. p. 64.
577 Vide Titles to Pss. vi. and xii. in A.V. "upon Sheminith," marg. "the eighth." LXX u/pe\r th=j o'gdo/hj. Vulg. pro octava. On various explanations of the Hebrew word vide Dict Bib. S. V. where Dr. Aldis Wright inclines to the view that it is a tune or key, and that the Hebrews were not acquainted with the octave.
578 1 Tim. iii. 16.
579 1 Cor. vi. 11.
580 1 Cor. v. 4.
581 Col ii. 13.
582 cf. 2 Cor. v. 8.
583 cf. Phil. i. 23.
584 1 Cor. iii. 9.
585 cf. Col. i. 6.
586 Col. iii. 3, 4.
587 Rom. viii. 2.
588 Rom. viii. 17.
589 Rom. viii. 16, 17. In this passage A.V. follows the neuter of the Greek original. R.V. has substituted "himself." cf. note on p. 15.
590 cf. Gal. v. 5.
591 cf. Eph. ii. 6.
592 cf. Phil. iii. 21, and 1 Cor. xv. 44.
593 1 Thess. iv. 17.
594 Rom. viii. 17
595 Rom. i. 4.
596 2 Tim. ii. 12.
597 Heb. x. 29.
598 cf. Verg., Aen. ii. Quis talia fando . . . temperet a lacrymis?
599 Rom. viii. 26.
600 Phil. iv. 7.
601 i.e. of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclus. xliii. 30.