Divine Life and the Generation of the Son.
Therefore our conceptions about God must also be integral and
unbroken. "Whoever conceives of the Father at the same time conceives of the
Son. Whoever thinks about the Son does not separate the Son from the Spirit." It
is impossible to imagine a separation or division by which the Son could be
considered without the Father, or the Spirit could be separated from the Son.
Every division which occurs in life is caused by time, and it is impossible to
consider that time has a relation to God. "What will there be after the end of
the Immortal? What was there before the generation of the Eternal?" Our
contemplation must "extend beyond the generation of the Lord," and comprehend
the continuity of the Divinity "as it exists at a distance from the present."
Eternal Being is an attribute of all the Divine hypostases in an equal degree.
There is no development, no becoming, and no duration in the Holy Trinity
because it has no interruptions and no plurality. The idea of inequality is
inapplicable here. In conclusion Basil writes that "no matter how much we
contemplate the past, we cannot escape from the fact that 'God was.' No matter
how greatly we strive to see what came before the Son, we cannot go the
Beginning." "In the beginning was the Word."
The Father and the Son are one by their Divinity. "Everything
which belongs to the Father can also be contemplated in the Son, and everything
which belongs to the Son belongs also to the Father. This is because the Son
completely abides in the Father and contains the Father completely in Himself,
so that the stasis of the Son is an image by which we can know the Father." The
Son is the living image of the Father. The Son is not a "reflection" which has
been cast in time, but a reflection which is eternal. He is a coeternal
radiance. "The eternal light shone forth
the ungenerated light, the life-creating Source proceeded the
true Strength, the Strength of God appeared from the absolute Strength."
All the Father's strength is directed towards the generation of
Son, and all the strength of the Only-Begotten is directed towards the Spirit.
Thus the Spirit contains the Strength and essence of the Only-Begotten, who in
turn contains the essence and strength of the Father. All of their strength is
involved in this, for there is no complexity in the Divinity and there can be no
division. It is impossible to conceive of any distinction between light and
light. "The radiance of glory is like the radiance of a flame. This radiance
does not follow after the flame, but as soon as the flame blazes up the light
shines forth from it. According to Apostles, we should recognize that the Son
comes from the Father in the same manner." The Spirit can be contemplated in the
Son and the Father in a similar way. "With the help of the strength that
enlightens us we turn our gaze to the beauty of the image (that is, the Word) of
God who is invisible, and through this beauty we arrive at a conception of the
Archetype (the Father), use beauty is greater than any other. In this the Spirit
of knowledge is inseparably present. To those who seek the truth the Spirit
gives in Himself the mystical ability to contemplate the Image. He does not show
this Image outside of Himself, but leads the way to knowledge within
Himself."
Basil expresses the unbroken and undiminishing unity of Divine
Life with the word "consubstantiality." For him this Nicene term signifies not
only complete coincidence, not only the City of the divine properties and
attributes of the Three Hypostases, and not only "similarity in everything" or
"similarity in essence." Most importantly it designates the "mutual
relationship" of the Three and the ineffable unity of the Trinity. This later
referred to as “interpenetration” (John of Damascus
calls this, περιχωρησις [perichoresis]. Basil considers that the
rainbow is the best image of the Divine Trinity which can be found among created
things. In a rainbow "one and the same light is unbroken, and yet has many
colors." These colors are part of a single phenomenon. There is no center or
transition among the colors, and the rays have no visible boundary. We clearly
see the distinctions and yet we cannot measure their distance. Together the many
colored rays form a single white whole, and a single essence is manifested in
the diverse colors of the radiance. This is the way we should conceive of the
unity of the Trinity.
The unity of Divine activity, the unity of Dominion, Power, and
Glory, testifies to the unity and consubstantiality of the Godhead. Basil always
stresses that Divine activity is united and indivisible. "The Father, Son, and
Spirit sanctify, give life, illuminate, and comfort. Let no one ascribe the
power of sanctification to the activity of the Spirit alone. Everything else
which is achieved among those who are worthy is the work of the Father, Son, and
Spirit in an equal degree: every grace and strength, direction, life, comfort,
immortality, freedom, and every other good which descends to us." Basil
concludes by saying that "the identity of the activity of the Father, Son, and
Spirit clearly proves the unity of their nature." This means that the Divinity
is one and that its activity is unified.
Within this unified activity we can distinguish three
components. The Father is the originating and commanding cause. The Son is the
cause which creates, and the Spirit is the cause which perfects. "The Father
commands, the Son creates, and the Spirit perfects." This distinction in
activity does not imply divisibility, "for there is one single Origin of Being,
which creates through the Son and perfects in the Spirit." "If the Father
creates through the Spirit," Basil says elsewhere, "this does not mean that the
creative power of the Father is imperfect, or that the Son has no power to act.
Instead, this demonstrates their singleness of will." Every Divine action is a
unified action on the part of the whole Trinity. The Three Hypostases and their
ineffable order are reflected in Divine activity, which is always from the
Father through the Son in the Spirit. "When we receive our gifts, we first of
all turn our thoughts to the Bestower, and next to the Sender, and then we raise
our minds to the Source and cause of all good."
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