Epiphanius of Cyprus on the Filioque

In this post I will be citing from the works of St. Epiphanius in respect to the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and/through the Son. All emphasis will be mine.

44,3 I myself, therefore, do not worship anything that is inferior to the essence of God himself, since it is proper to accord divine honor only to the Absolute—to the ingenerate Father, the Son [begotten] of him, and the Holy Spirit [who proceeds] from the Father and through the Only-begotten, since nothing in the Trinity is created and falls within the province of causation. (4) For nothing in the Trinity is made from nothing, like other things, which fall within the province of causation and have causes.

And so, since the Trinity is without such a cause, it has inerrantly taught that it alone can be worshiped; for it alone is without a cause. (5) But all other things must be categorized as caused. For they are things which have been made and created, while the Father is uncreated, and he has a Son who is begotten of him but not created, and a Holy Spirit who proceeds from him and yet is not his handiwork.

44,6 Since this is the case the Son, who is worshiped, has not inherited¹²⁸ the suffering of his cause even though, in the Father, he has a Begetter. And neither has the Holy Spirit. And other things, the creatures, cannot be the cause of any inheritance without suffering [themselves], since they are created by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. (7) But the Only-begotten—and his Holy Spirit—can plainly be the cause of inheritance without suffering [themselves], for the Son is not a creature but an offspring and, since he has been begotten, will not inherit the causation of suffering. Neither will the Holy Spirit, since he proceeds from the Father. (The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis Books II and III. De Fide (Second, revised Edition), translated by Frank Williams [Brill, Leiden-Boston 2013], Volume 79, pp. 564-565)

54,1 For they say that the sender is not like the sent, but that sender and sent differ in power because the one sends, while the other is sent. And if the meaning of the truth were what they say, the whole subject of our knowledge could not be traced to one unity of truth, power and Godhead. (2) For if two were meeting or two were sending, the Son would no longer be a son, but a brother—who had another brother, no longer a father.²¹¹ But if they were related by identity or adoption, or if one were to send himself, or if the two sent together or arrived together, they would show that there are two Godheads and not one unity. (3) But here there is a Sender and a Sent, showing that there is one Source212 of all good things, the Father; but next after the Source comes One who—to correspond with his name of Son and Word, and not with any other—is one Source springing from a Source, the Son come forth, ever with the Father but begotten < without beginning and not in time as the scripture says* >, “For with thee is the source of life.”213 (4) And to show the same of the Holy Spirit < it adds >, “In thy light shall we see light,” showing that the Father is light, the Son is the Father’s light, and the Holy Spirit is light and a Source springing from a Source, [that is], from the Father AND the Only-begotten—the Holy Spirit  (ek tou Patros kai tou Monogenous to Pneuma to hagion). “For out of his belly shall flow rivers of water springing up unto eternal life; but,” says the Gospel, “he said this of the Holy Spirit.”²¹⁴ (Ibid., p. 380)

Chapter Sixty-Seven

(1) If Christ is believed [to be] from the Father, as God from God, and the Spirit [is] from Christ or from both¹ (as Christ says, “who proceeds from the Father,” and “this one will receive from what is mine”; and Christ from the Holy Spirit, “for that which is in her,” the voice of the angel says, “is from the Holy Spirit”),² I should understand the mystery that delivers me by faith, by hearing alone, by love for the one who came to me. (2) For God knows himself; Christ proclaims himself; the Holy Spirit manifests himself to the saints. In the holy Scriptures the Trinity is proclaimed to us and is believed simply, without strife a hearing of that which has been agreed. (3) From this faith is the salvation of grace, “the righteousness from faith apart from works of the law”:³ it has been written that from the “hearing of faith,”⁴ the “Spirit of Christ”⁵ is given to those who are saved. (4) This very faith is indicated in general by the expressions of the heralds, as I myself believe, being instructed from the Scriptures: thrice holy, thrice equally holy,⁶ thrice existent, thrice coexistent, thrice endowed with form,⁷ thrice with equal form, thrice active, thrice co-active, thrice enhypostatic,⁸ thrice with hypostasis⁹ joined with one another.¹⁰ This Trinity is called holy, being three, one concord, one divinity of the same ousia, of the same divinity, of the same hypostasis,11 like from like, working an equality of grace of Father and of Son and of Holy Spirit. (5) And how to teach to others is left open [to God]. “For no one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father and to whom the Son might reveal.”¹² And he reveals through the Holy Spirit. (6) Accordingly, these, being three, whether of him or from him or with him, for each, are they being thought about worthily, even as he reveals them as light, fire, wind, and I believe with other likenesses of visions, as the man being supplied is worthy.¹³ (7) Therefore, God himself, the one who said in the beginning, “Let there be light, and light came to be,”¹⁴ which was visible, is the same as the one who illuminated us to see “the light,” “the true one, who comes into the world, illuminating all men.”¹⁵ (“Send your light and your truth,” says David.)¹⁶ He is the same Lord who said, “In the final days I will pour out from my Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their daughters will prophesy, and their youths will see visions,”¹⁷ showing to us three Persons of holy worship, from a hypostasis which is threefold.¹⁸ (154-156)

Chapter Seventy

(1) Therefore, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as has been demonstrated, work together with the Father: “for by the word of the Lord the heavens were established and by the breath of his mouth, all their power.”¹ The Holy Spirit is to be worshiped: “for it is necessary for those who worship God, to worship in spirit and in truth.”² (2) And if he works together these things, a creation does not make a creation, nor does the divinity become created, nor is God known in a limit or circumscription.³ For he is unlimited,⁴ uncontainable,⁵ inconceivable, surpassing all things made of God. (3) Nor is a creation to be worshiped: “for they worshiped the creation in place of the one who created, and they became foolish.”⁶ For how is it not foolish to speak of God as a creation and to disregard the first commandment which says, “Hear, Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one”;⁷ “There shall not be a new god among you.”⁸ (4) In the holy Scriptures different names are called of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Of the Father: Father Almighty, Father of All, Father of Christ; and of the Son: Logos, Christ, “true Light”;⁹ and of the Holy Spirit: “Paraclete,”¹⁰ “Spirit of truth,”¹¹ “Spirit of God,”¹² “Spirit of Christ.”¹³ (5) Therefore, [our] God and Father further is thought as “Light,”¹⁴ but as exceedingly bright, “Power,” “Wisdom.” And if [our] God and Father is “Light,” then the Son is “Light from Light,” and because of this, “dwelling in unapproachable light.”¹⁵ (6) [Our] entire God is “Power,” and because of this is “Lord of powers”;¹⁶ [our] entire God is “Wisdom,” therefore the Son is “Wisdom from Wisdom,” “in whom all treasures of wisdom are hidden”;¹⁷ [our] entire God is “Life,” therefore the Son is “Life from Life,” “for I am the truth and the life.”18 (7) The Holy Spirit is from both, Spirit from Spirit. “For God is spirit”;¹⁹ divinity, he is the giver of gifts, most true, most brilliant, “Paraclete,”²⁰ premonitory of the purposes of the Father. (8) For as the Son is “angel of great counsel,”²¹ thus also is the Holy Spirit. “But we received,” it says, “the Spirit of God, in order that we might know that which was given to us by God, which we also speak about, not in the persuasive words of [human] wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit of God, comparing spiritual things to spiritual people.”²² 

Chapter Seventy-One

(1) But someone will say: “Therefore, we say that there are two sons, and how [then] is he only-begotten?” “No! Who are you, speaking against God?”¹ For if he [the Father] calls the one from him “Son,” and the Holy Spirit the one from both, (what alone is by faith being thought by the saints, that he is shining, illuminating, has illuminating activity, and makes a harmony “of light” with the “Father” himself), (2) by faith listen, O man, because the Father is Father of the true Son, entire light, and Son is of the true Father, light from light, not in appellation alone, as things which are made or created. And the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth,”² third light from the Father and Son.³ (3) But all the others [sons and spirits] are by adoption and by name, not similar to these in activity or power or light or notion. As someone would say, “I begot sons and raised them up”;⁴ or as someone would say, “I myself said, you are gods and all sons of the Most High”;⁵ or as someone would say, “the one who has produced drops of rain”;⁶ or as someone would say, “from whom all lineages in heaven and on earth”;⁷ or as someone would say, “I who strengthen thunder and create wind.”⁸ (4) For not like the remaining fathers or patriarchs has the true Father begun to be Father, nor does he abandon at some point in time his existence as Father. For if he begins to be Father, then he was the son at some point in time of another father, before he himself was the Father of the Only-begotten.⁹ As fathers are thought to be children in the likeness of their fathers, it is also an endless thing truly to find the father of this ancient history. (5) Nor like the remaining children, [those] by adoption, is the true Son new at being a son. For if he was new at being Son, there was some point in time when the Father was not Father of the Only-begotten.¹⁰ (6) Neither like the remaining spirits is the “Spirit of truth”¹¹ created or made, nor like the remaining angels is he called “the angel of great counsel.”¹² (Ibid., 160-162)

Chapter Seventy-Three

(1) If, therefore, “he proceeds from the Father”¹ and “will receive from what is mine,”² the Lord says, just as, “no one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father,”³ thus I dare to say that [no one knows] Spirit except the Son from whom he receives and the Father from whom he proceeds. (2) And [no one knows] the Son and the Father, except the Holy Spirit, the one who truly glorifies, the one who teaches all things, the one who bears witness concerning the Son, who is from the Father, who is of the Son, the only guide of truth, expounder of holy laws, instructor of the spiritual law, professor of the prophets, teacher of the apostles, illuminator of the Gospel doctrines, selector of the saints, true light from true light.⁴ (3) The Son is a real Son, true Son, genuine Son, the unique one from the unique one, and the Spirit is with him, but being named “Spirit.” (4) This one is the God who is glorified in the church: always the Father, always the Son, and always the Holy Spirit, sublime of sublime and highest, intellectual,⁵ having immeasurable glory, to whom [all] things created and made are inferior, in general everything that is circumscribed and each thing that is encompassed. (5) The divinity is especially declared as one in the Law of Moses, and is very much proclaimed as two in the Prophets, and is made known as three in the Gospels, furnishing more for the knowledge and faith of the righteous person, according to seasons and generations.⁶ Knowledge of it [divinity] is immortality, and adoption as a son comes to be from faith in it [divinity]. (6) But first it [knowledge] recounts the ordinances of the flesh, as though raising up externally the encircling wall of the temple in the Mosaic Law. But next it describes in detail the ordinances of the soul, as though adorning the holy things in the remaining prophecies. And thirdly, [it describes] the ordinances of the spirit, as though arranging the Mercy-seat and Holy of Holies in the Gospels for its dwelling: a holy tabernacle, holy temple, holds only the righteous person who is joined with these. (7) And the one infinite divinity dwells in it, one incorruptible divinity, one inconceivable divinity, incomprehensible, indescribable, invisible, the only one knowing itself, manifesting itself to those it wills, raising up witnesses for itself, calling, predestining, glorifying, lifting out of Hades, sanctifying, (8) unifying again, for its glory and faith, these three things: heavenly things, earthly things, and under earthly things; spirit, soul, flesh; faith, hope, love; things past, things present, things future; age of age, ages of ages, Sabbaths of Sabbaths; circumcision of the flesh, circumcision of the heart, “circumcision of Christ in the putting off of the body of sins.”⁷ (9) It completely makes pure all things for itself, invisible and visible things, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities, powers.⁸ Overall the same holy voice, from glory to glory uttering, “Holy, holy, holy,” Father in Son, the Son in Father, with the Holy Spirit, to whom is the glory and the might into the ages of ages, Amen!⁹ And the one who thus believes will say, “So be it, so be it!”

Chapter Seventy-Four

(1) And concerning the Trinity and consubstantiality¹ of God the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, we who are weak and unskilled, using no sophisticated arguments² nor opposing them “with the trickery of men,”³ but rather gathering together testimonies from the divine Scriptures, for those wishing for the discovery of the faithful and the refutation of wicked believers and vainglorious men, [we] have collected a portion [of the testimonies]. For great is the power of faith in the Holy Spirit, which has been proclaimed excellently in all the divine Scriptures. (2) Since the assurance of our salvation is the assured confession of the Incarnation and the incarnate parousia of our Savior, and the confirmation of hope, both concerning the resurrection of the dead and our rebirth, adding again a little to this, our labor, for those wishing to read something more accurate, collecting from the same divine Scriptures and adding to our argument, we continue. (3) For since, as we already were taught in what has been written before, our Lord himself in his Gospel said to his disciples, “going forth, baptize all the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe the commandments which I commanded you.”⁴ He is the holy Logos, the one who is enhypostatic, the one who came forth from the Father, through whom the ages have come to be, through whom the times and seasons [have come to be]. For there was not a season nor a time before the Son. (4) For if there was time before the Son, then time is greater than the Son; and how is it that “through him all things came to be, and apart from him nothing came to be which has come to be”?⁵ Because if something has come to be, it has come to be through him; and he is uncreated and always exists: because the Father always was, and his Holy Spirit always was. (5) For if there was time before the Son, then in turn will be sought through whom also was the time before the Son, and then countless things will turn our reasoning to an illusion, lurking in the opinion of men, or rather to a fornication of thoughts, and not concerns soundness of mind. (6) Therefore, there was not a time before the Son, since the Son has not come to be through time. But through the Son, times and the angels and all other created things [have come to be]. There was not ever a time when the Son was not, nor was there ever [a time] when the Spirit was not.⁶

Chapter Seventy-Five

(1) Some people are accustomed, deciding wrongly and not thinking, to differentiate the reading in the saying, “All things came to be through him, and apart from him nothing came to be,”¹ while thus setting aside the literal meaning, to accept an opinion of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. They err concerning the reading, and from the error of reading they stumble, being turned toward blasphemy.² (2) Thus the reading has: “All things came to be through him, and apart from him nothing came to be, that which has come to be in him,”³ that is to say that if something has come to be, it came to be through him.⁴ (3) Therefore, the Father always was, and the Son always was; and the Spirit breathes forth from Father and Son, and neither is the Son created nor is the Spirit created.⁵ But after Father and Son and Holy Spirit all things, created and originated, not existing at some point in time, came to be from Father and Son and Holy Spirit, through the Logos who always exists, with the Spirit, who always exists.⁶ (4) Therefore, through the Logos himself all created things have come to be, [through] the heavenly king, the enhypostatic Logos, our Savior and benefactor. (5) For he is the holy Savior, the one who came down from heaven, the one who deemed worthy that our salvation be accomplished in a virgin womb, the one who has been born in turn from Mary, conceived through the Holy Spirit, the one who assumed the flesh, the Logos who became flesh, the one who did not change his nature, the one who with his divinity assumed humanity, the one who is perfect from the Father, the one who fulfilled the perfect economy, came into the world for us and for our salvation. (6) [He is] the one who assumed the flesh and the human soul, being perfect from the Father, who became incarnate among us not in appearance, but in truth, who perfectly formed for himself a man from Mary, Theotokos, through the Holy Spirit. (7) [He is the one] who did not dwell in a man, as it has been accustomed in the prophets to say that he dwells and acts in power, but the Logos himself who became flesh, who did not alter his being as God, who did not change the divinity into humanity, but with his own fullness of his divinity and with his own hypostasis of God-Logos and enhypostatic, assumed existence as a man and as much as is man.⁷ (8) I say perfect man as however much is in a man and whatever sort a man is. The Only-begotten came and assumed this, in order that in the perfect man, being God, he might work perfectly the whole of salvation, having omitting nothing of man, in order that any omitted part in turn might not become fodder for the Devil. (Ibid., pp. 165-169)

Further Reading

St. Cyril on the Filioque