On the Incarnation and against the Arians · §12 · Marcellus of Ancyra

The Spirit shares the divine works and glory

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Marcellus continues his proof that Scripture attributes the same divine works to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now showing that the Spirit speaks, is grieved, fills all things, and shares the one divine glory.

Therefore my people will know my name in that day, because I myself am the one who speaks; I am present (Isaiah 52:6). But sometimes it speaks from the person of the Holy Spirit, as when the prophet Agabus says: “Thus says the Holy Spirit: The man to whom this belt belongs” (Acts 21:11). And again Paul writes to Timothy: “The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith” (1 Timothy 4:1). And again: “The Spirit said to Philip: Go over and join yourself to this chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch” (Acts 8:29). And the prophet Ezekiel, accusing the old people, said: “And they grieved me in all these things, says the Lord” (Ezekiel 16:43). But Paul writes to the new people: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). And David says about the Jews: “And they provoked God in the wilderness” (Psalm 78:40). But Isaiah says about them: “But they disobeyed and provoked the Holy Spirit, and he was turned to them into enmity” (Isaiah 63:10). And Stephen says in Acts: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did” (Acts 7:51). And when Paul says about the Father: “God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns?” (Romans 8:33-34), he says the same things also about the Son and about the Holy Spirit in the same way: “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). And the Lord says to Satan about himself: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matthew 4:7). But Peter said to Sapphira: “Why is it that you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” (Acts 5:9). And God is the one who contains and fills all things, as he also says through Isaiah: “I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:24). In the same way Paul also writes about the Son: “The one who descended is himself also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10). And David says the same things also about the Holy Spirit: “Where shall I go from your Spirit, and from your face where shall I flee?” (Psalm 139:7). And by saying: “Where shall I go from your Spirit?” he showed us that the Holy Spirit also is the one who fills all things. “And from your face where shall I flee? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I descend to Hades, you are present” (Psalm 139:7-8). And who has gone down to Hades except the Son, who rose from the dead? And when Stephen says in Acts: “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham” (Acts 7:2), Paul says the same things also about the Son: “For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8). And in the same way David also says: “The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory” (Psalm 24:10). For there is one glory of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. “My glory,” Scripture says, “I will not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8). For the Son is not a second God, but the Word of the one and only God, confessed as God in the Father, just as the Father is confessed as God in the Son. As Isaiah also says, confessing the Son as God together with the Father: “And they will worship you, and to you they will pray, because God is in you, and besides you there is no God” (Isaiah 45:14).

Greek

Διὰ τοῦτο γνώσεται ὁ λαός μου ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τὸ ὄνομά μου· ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, αὐτὸς ὁ λαλῶν πάρειμι· ὁτὲ δὲ ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ 1016 ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὡς ὅταν ὁ μὲν προφήτης Ἄγαβος λέγῃ· Τάδε λέγει τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· Τὸν ἄνδρα, οὗ ἐστιν ἡ ζώνη αὕτη. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ Παῦλος πρὸς Τιμόθεον γράφει· Τὸ Πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει, ὅτι ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς ἀποστήσονταί τινες τῆς πίστεως· καὶ πάλιν· Εἶπε τὸ Πνεῦμα τῷ Φιλίππῳ· Πρόσελθε καὶ κολλήθητι τῷ ἅρματι τούτῳ τοῦ Αἰθίοπος τοῦ εὐνούχου. Καὶ ὁ μὲν προφήτης Ἰεζεκιὴλ, αἰτιώμενος τὸν παλαιὸν λαὸν, ἔλεγε· Καὶ ἐλύπησάν με ἐν πᾶσι τούτοις, λέγει Κύριος. Ὁ δὲ Παῦλος γράφει τῷ νέῳ λαῷ· Καὶ μὴ λυπεῖτε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν ᾧ ἐσφραγίσθητε εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρώσεως. Καὶ ὁ μὲν Δαβὶδ περὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων λέγει· Καὶ παρώξυναν τὸν Θεὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· ὁ δὲ Ἡσαΐας περὶ αὐτῶν· Αὐτοὶ δὲ ἠπείθησαν, καὶ παρώξυναν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, καὶ ἐστράφη αὐτοῖς εἰς ἔχθραν. Καὶ ὁ Στέφανος ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι λέγει· Σκληροτράχηλοι καὶ ἀπερίτμητοι τῇ καρδίᾳ καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν, ὑμεῖς ἀεὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀντιπίπτετε, ὡς οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν. Καὶ ὅτε μὲν λέγει ὁ Παῦλος περὶ Πατρός· Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν, τίς ὁ κατακρίνων; τὰ δὲ αὐτὰ καὶ περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ὁμοίως λέγει· Ἀλλ' ἀπελούσασθε, ἀλλ' ἡγιάσθητε, ἀλλ' ἐδικαιώθητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν. Ὁ δὲ Κύριος τῷ Σατανᾷ λέγει περὶ ἑαυτοῦ· Οὐκ ἐκπειράσεις Κύριον, τὸν Θεόν σου· ὁ δὲ Πέτρος εἶπε πρὸς τὴν Σαπφείραν· Τί ὅτι συνεφωνήθη ὑμῖν πειράσαι τὸ Πνεῦμα Κυρίου; Καὶ ὁ Θεὸς μέν ἐστιν ὁ περιέχων καὶ πληρῶν τὰ πάντα, ὡς καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου λέγει· Τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ, λέγει Κύριος· Ὁμοίως καὶ περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ γράφει ὁ Παῦλος. Ὁ καταβὰς αὐτός ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἀναβὰς ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὰ πάντα. Τὰ δὲ αὐτὰ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματός φησιν ὁ Δαβίδ· Ποῦ πορευθῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματός σου, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου ποῦ φύγω; Τὸ δὲ εἰπεῖν αὐτόν· Ποῦ πορευθῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματός σου; ἔδειξεν ἡμῖν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα εἶναι τὸ 1017 τὰ πάντα πληροῦν· Καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου ποῦ φύγω; Ἐὰν ἀναβῶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, σὺ ἐκεῖ εἶ· ἐὰν καταβῶ εἰς τὸν ᾅδην, πάρει. Τίς δὲ παραγέγονεν εἰς τὸν ᾅδην εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱὸς ὁ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάς; καὶ ὅτε μὲν λέγει ὁ Στέφανος ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσιν· Ὁ Θεὸς τῆς δόξης ὤφθη τῷ πατρὶ ἡμῶν Ἀβραάμ· τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ περὶ Υἱοῦ ὁ Παῦλος λέγει· Εἰ γὰρ ἔγνωσαν, οὐκ ἂν τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ Δαβὶδ λέγει· Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης. Μία γὰρ δόξα Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· Τὴν δόξαν μου, φησὶν ἡ Γραφὴ, ἑτέρῳ οὐ δώσω· οὐ γάρ ἐστι δεύτερος Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς, ἀλλὰ Λόγος τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ μόνου Θεοῦ, θεολογούμενος ἐν Πατρὶ, ὡς καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν Υἱῷ θεολογεῖται· καθὼς καὶ Ἡσαΐας λέγει θεολογῶν Υἱὸν σὺν Πατρί· Καὶ προσκυνήσουσί σοι καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσεύξονται, ὅτι ἐν σοὶ ὁ Θεός ἐστι, καὶ πλὴν σοῦ Θεὸς οὐκ ἔστι.

About this text

Marcellus of Ancyra (c. 280–c. 374), bishop of Ancyra, wrote this treatise against opponents who misuse Scripture to deny the full divinity of the Son.

Marcellus of Ancyra (c. 280–c. 374), bishop of Ancyra, wrote this treatise against opponents who misuse Scripture to deny the full divinity of the Son. They ask how the Son can be like the Father or from the Father's essence, given texts about receiving life, being raised, being forsaken, and not knowing the last day. Marcellus responds that these humble sayings belong to Christ's assumed humanity, not to his eternal divinity.

The opponents bring forward the human sayings of the Son's poverty to establish their own blasphemy. Marcellus argues that the Son is by nature equal and consubstantial with the Father, and that the Father acts through him in raising, sanctifying, and glorifying the incarnate Lord. He also insists that the Holy Spirit is uncreated, of the same divinity and authority as Father and Son, and that Scripture attributes the same works to all three, including creating, sanctifying, raising, giving life, speaking in prophets, and filling all things.

A reader will meet many biblical voices quoted and argued against: Paul, John, Isaiah, David, Peter, Thomas, Philip, Stephen, Mary, Adam, Gabriel, Ananias, Sapphira, Barnabas, Agabus, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Moses, John the Baptist, Luke, Matthew, Timothy, and Satan.

No published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Migne PG text (Aegean University Digital Patrology, via (Greek)
Also checked Migne PG 18/26, archive.org scan patrologiae_cursus_completus_gr_vol_026 (Greek machine-read text) (Greek · check (same print; machine-read text compared word by word))

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