The Distinction of the Three Hypostases
Did he not have the gift of prophecy? For how could the holy Paul say what will happen at the end of the days, if he himself did not have the gift of prophecy? [M.] How then do you not receive Montanus the holy one? [O.] Because he was a false prophet, saying nothing true. [M.] Do not blaspheme, man, the Paraclete. [O.] I both condemn and glorify the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, but I loathe Montanus as the filth of the desert. [M.] How? [O.] First, because he says: 'I am the Father, and I am the Son, and I am the Paraclete.' [M.] But you say: 'The Father is another, and the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another.' [O.] If we were saying this, it would be nothing credible; but if the Son teaches that the Father is another and the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, is another, it is necessary to believe. [M.] Show where he teaches this. [O.] When he says: 'I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, so that he may be with you forever, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him; but you know that he remains with you and will be in you.' How do you not clearly perceive another Paraclete being heard from another through him who is speaking? [M.] If one is another and another and another, then three gods. [O.] May it never be! [M.] How—'may it never be'? [O.] Because the divine Scripture unifies those having the same nature and will. [M.] May it never be. [O.] You hear the Apostle Paul saying: 'In Christ Jesus there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female; there is neither Greek nor Jew, but all are one in Christ Jesus' (Galatians 3:28). And we hear Christ himself saying concerning man and woman, that they are no longer two, but one flesh (Matthew 19:6). If those things existing in distinction are no longer two because of the sameness of will and nature, how is it possible for the incorporeal to be distinguished by number and position? [M.] Therefore there is not one God. [O.] One God according to the word of nature, but according to subsistence, the Father is another and the Son is another and...
Another is the Holy Spirit. [M.] How then does the Son say: 'In that day they shall know that I am in the Father and the Father is in me' (John 14:20)? And again he says: 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will keep him, and we will come to him and make a dwelling with him' (John 14:23). He who does not love me does not keep my words, and my word is not mine, but of the one who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while remaining among you; and the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of all things that I said to you.
[O.] Unwillingly you consent to the word of truth. For if you are persuaded by the things spoken, you will walk straight toward the truth. You heard that he says: 'In that day you shall know that I am in the Father and the Father is in me' (John 14:20), and he did not say: 'In that day you shall all know that I am Father and Son.' You hear that he says: 'and we will come to him, I and the Father' (John 14:23); he did not say to him: 'I and the Father and the Son will come and make a dwelling'; but also this: 'My word is not mine, but of the one who sent me' (John 14:24), which declares nothing other than the distinctness of the hypostases. And when he says: 'These things I have spoken to you while remaining among you; and the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, all that I have said to you,' how will you not confess, having clarified for yourself, the clarity of the three hypostases?
[M.] On the day of judgment, the three hypostases sit to judge the living and the dead. [O.] He who hears 'sit' in a bodily sense, let him perceive it spiritually, so that you do not suppose places and separations of bodies, but the wholeness of nature. For everywhere is the Father, everywhere the Son, everywhere the Holy Spirit; and just as there is no middle between mind, word, and breath, so there is no middle between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But it is necessary to perceive the Father as perfect, in a perfect hypostasis, and the Son as perfect in a perfect hypostasis.
Greek
μὴ χάρισμα προφητείας εἶχε; Πῶς δὲ καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος ἔλεγε τὰ μέλλοντα ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν ἔσεσθαι, εἰ μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς εἶχεν χάρισμα προφητείας; {Μ.} Πῶς οὖν οὐ δέχεσθε Μοντανὸν τὸν ἅγιον; {Ο.} Ὅτι ψευδοπροφήτης ἦν οὐδὲν ἀληθὲς λέγων. {Μ.} Μὴ βλασφήμει, ἄνθρωπε, τὸν παράκλητον. {Ο.} Ἐγὼ αἰνῶ καὶ δοξάζω τὸν παράκλητον, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, Μοντανὸν δὲ βδελύσσομαι ὡς τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως. {Μ.} Πῶς; {Ο.} Πρῶτον, ὅτι λέγει· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ἐγὼ ὁ παράκλητος. {Μ.} Ὑμεῖς δὲ λέγετε, ὅτι· Ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ἄλλος ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ἄλλο τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. {Ο.} Ἐὰν ἡμεῖς λέγωμεν, οὐδὲν ἀξιόπιστον· ἐὰν δὲ ὁ υἱὸς διδάσκῃ, ἄλλον εἶναι τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον τὸν παράκλητον, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἀνάγκη πείθεσθαι. {Μ.} ∆εῖξον, ποῦ διδάσκει. {Ο.} Ὅταν λέγῃ· Ἐγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα, καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ἵνα ᾖ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ὃ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, ὅτι οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτό· ὑμεῖς δὲ γιγνώσκετε, ὅτι παρ' ὑμῖν μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται. Πῶς οὐχὶ φανερῶς ἄλλον παράκλητον ἀκούων ἄλλον παρ' αὐτὸν τὸν λέγοντα νοεῖς; {Μ.} Εἰ ἄλλος καὶ ἄλλος καὶ ἄλλος, τρεῖς θεοί. {Ο.} Μὴ γένοιτο. {Μ.} Πῶς· μὴ γένοιτο; {Ο.} Ὅτι ἡ θεία γραφὴ τὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχοντα φύσιν καὶ βουλὴν ἑνοῖ. {Μ.} Μὴ γένοιτο. {Ο.} Ἀκούεις Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου λέγοντος, ὅτι· Ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐκ ἔνι δοῦλος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος· οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ· οὐκ ἔνι Ἕλλην καὶ Ἰουδαῖος, 453 ἀλλὰ πάντες ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ εἷς ἐστε. Καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀκούομεν λέγοντος περὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ τῆς γυναικός, ὅτι οὐκέτι εἰσὶ δύο, ἀλλὰ σὰρξ μία. Εἰ δὲ τὰ ἐν διαστάσει ὄντα οὐκέτι εἰσὶ δύο διὰ τὸ ταὐτὸν τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τῆς φύσεως, πῶς δυνατὸν τὰ ἀσώματα ὑπὸ ἀριθμὸν καὶ θέσιν γενέσθαι; {Μ.} Οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν εἷς θεός. {Ο.} Εἷς θεὸς τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως, τῇ δὲ ὑποστάσει ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ἄλλος ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ἄλλος τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. {Μ.} Πῶς οὖν ὁ υἱὸς λέγει· Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσονται, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί; Καὶ πάλιν λέγει· Ἄν τις ἀγαπᾷ με, τὸν λόγον μου τηρήσει, καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου τηρήσει αὐτόν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλευσόμεθα καὶ μονὴν παρ' αὐτῷ ποιησόμεθα. Ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν με τοὺς λόγους μου οὐ τηρεῖ καὶ ὁ λόγος ὁ ἐμὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμός, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με. Ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν παρ' ὑμῖν μένων· ὁ δὲ παράκλητος, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὃ πέμψει ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖνο ὑμᾶς διδάξει πάντα καὶ ὑπομνήσει πάντα, ἃ εἶπον ἐγώ. {Ο.} Ἄκων συναινεῖς τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας. Εἰ γὰρ πείθῃ τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ὀρθοποδήσεις πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Ἤκουσας, ὅτι λέγει· Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί, καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν· Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε πάντες, ὅτι ἐγὼ πατὴρ καὶ υἱός εἰμι. Ἀκούεις δέ, ὅτι λέγει· καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλευσόμεθα ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατήρ· οὐκ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐλεύσομαι ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ μονὴν ποιήσω· ἀλλὰ καὶ τό· Ὁ λόγος ὁ ἐμὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμός, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με, οὐδὲν ἕτερον δηλοῖ ἢ τῶν ὑποστάσεων τὴν ἰδιότητα· καὶ ὅταν δέ· ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν παρ' ὑμῖν μένων, ἀκούσῃς, ὁ δὲ παράκλητος τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὃ πέμψει ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ ἐμῷ ὀνόματι, ἐκεῖνος διδάξει ὑμᾶς πάντα, ἃ εἶπον ὑμῖν, πῶς οὐ σαυτὸν ἐρυθριάσας ὁμολογήσεις τῶν τριῶν ὑποστάσεων τὴν εὐκρίνειαν; 454 {Μ.} Ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ... κρίσεως αἱ τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις καθέζονται κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. {Ο.} Τὸ καθέζονται σωματικῶς ἀκούων πνευματικῶς νόει, ἵνα μὴ τόπους καὶ χωρισμοὺς σωμάτων ὑπολάβῃς, ἀλλὰ τὸ πάγιον τῆς φύσεως. Πανταχοῦ γὰρ ὁ πατήρ, πανταχοῦ ὁ υἱός, πανταχοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, καὶ ὥσπερ οὐδὲν μέσον ἐστὶν νοῦ καὶ λόγου καὶ πνοῆς, οὕτως οὐδὲν μέσον πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος. Νοῆσαι δὲ δεῖ τὸν πατέρα τέλειον, ἐν τελείᾳ ὑποστάσει, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τέλειον ἐν τελείᾳ ὑποστάσει,
About this text
A debate with Montanists over their 'new prophecy': true Spirit or fraud?
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.