The Foreknowledge of the Holy Spirit
Having been refreshed by apostolic testimony and witness, he says: 'Stephen, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, saw the heavens opened' (Acts 7:55). Thus it is as has been received from ancient times: from heaven, therefore, is the unapproachable, spotless ether.
He is a prophet, that is, he foreknows, just as the Father and the Son do; but it belongs to the divine nature alone to know precisely the things that are to come. For creation, while it brings forward all things that are speculative from itself, sees only unerringly and without deviation that which the Holy Spirit teaches it. For by His divine rays, it not only illuminates the powers in heaven once, but also brightens the eyes of our souls, and it frequently shows in many ways the things to come, and it facilitates through its own goodness and philanthropy those things contributing to the useful for human nature, so that one might say of creation: it is such when our sleeping nature does not write its destiny through the provider by means of creation, but upon itself.
And the testimonies concerning the foreknowledge of the Spirit from the apostolic deeds are in these things. From Peter to the Jews: 'Men, brothers, it was necessary for the Scripture to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas, the guide of those who seized Jesus' (Acts 1:16; 13:27). So indeed he said 'it was necessary'; for every word of God alone is not incomplete. And from Paul: 'The Holy Spirit testifies to me city by city, saying, that tribulations and distresses remain with me' (2 Cor 11:26). And through the prophet Agabus, he forewarned of a famine coming under heaven because of the failings of men, as a good thing, just as also regarding Nineveh, that if they had been made reverent by repentance they would flee the evil (Acts 11:28; Jonah 3:10), which also happened to many in later times during the reign of Claudius. And in the Gospel, Christ says concerning the Spirit: 'And He will announce to you the things that are coming,' that is, the things to come (John 16:13).
Greek
ἀναδησαμένῳ ἀποστολῆς καὶ μαρτυρίου. φησὶν γάρ· «Στέφανος πλησθεὶς πνεύματος ἁγίου εἶδεν τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἀνεῳγμέ νους.» ὥστε εἶναι τὸ ὑπὸ ἀρχαίου εἰρομένον· οὐρανόθεν δ' ἄρ' ὑπερράγη ἄσπετος αἰθήρ. 7.12ν ὅτι προγνώστης ὅτι προγινώσκει, ὡς ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱός· μόνης δὲ θεϊκῆς φύσεώς ἐστιν, ἀκριβῶς εἰδέναι τὰ μέλλοντα. ἡ γὰρ κτίσις πάντα μὲν τὰ ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς στοχαστικὰ προφέρει, ἐκεῖνο δὲ μόνον ἀπλανῶς καὶ ἀπαραβάτως προβλέπει, ὃ αὐτὴν διδάξῃ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα. ταῖς γὰρ 78 θείαις ἀκτῖσιν αὐτοῦ μονονουχὶ τὰς ἐν οὐρανῷ καταλάμπον δυνάμεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν ἀπολαμπρύνον τὰ ὄμματα, ὑποδείκνυσί τε πολλάκις διαφόρως τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ συγχωρεῖ δι' οἰκείαν ἀγαθότητα καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν τὰ πρὸς τὸ χρήσιμον συντελοῦντα τῇ ἀνθρωπείᾳ φύσει ἐκ λέγειν ποτὲ τὴν κτίσιν· ἅπερ ἔσθ' ὅτε ἡ ἔνυλος ἡμῶν φύσις οὐ τῷ χορηγήσαντι διὰ μέσης τῆς κτίσεως, ἀλλ' αὐτῇ ἐπιγράφει. αἱ δὲ περὶ τῆς προγνώσεως τοῦ πνεύματος ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν πράξεων μαρτυρίαι εἰσὶν ἐν τούτοις. ἀπὸ τοῦ Πέτρου πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους· «ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί, ἔδει πληρωθῆναι τὴν γραφήν, ἣν προεῖπεν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον διὰ στόματος ∆αυὶδ περὶ Ἰούδα τοῦ γενομένου ὁδηγοῦ τῶν συλλαβόντων Ἰησοῦν.» εὖ τοίνυν εἶπε τὸ «ἔδει»· θεοῦ γὰρ μόνου πᾶς λόγος οὐκ ἀτελεύτητος. καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Παύλου· «τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον κατὰ πόλιν διαμαρτύρεταί με λέγον, ὅτι δεσ μὰ καὶ θλίψεις με μένουσιν.» καὶ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου δὲ Ἀγάβου σιτοδείαν ἐσομένην τῇ ὑπ' οὐρανὸν διὰ τὰς ἀνθρώπων πλημμελείας προεμήνυσεν ὡς ἀγαθός, καθὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς Νινευῆ, ὡς ἂν εὐλαβηθέντες μετανοίᾳ φύγοιεν τὸ κακὸν ἥτις καὶ συνέβη πολλοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ἐπὶ Κλαυδίου. καὶ ἐν εὐαγγελίῳ δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς περὶ τοῦ πνεύματός φησιν· «καὶ τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν», τουτέστιν τὰ μέλλοντα. 79
About this text
Didymus the Blind defends the full divinity of Father, Son, and Spirit against those who rank them.
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- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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