Our Lord consoles his disciples who, as men, would be naturally alarmed and troubled at the idea of his death, by assuring them of his divinity, . . . Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me, as if they must believe in him if they believed in God. This would not follow unless Christ were God. . . . You are in fear for this form of a servant. Let not your heart be troubled. The form of God shall raise it up.

In commanding them not to be troubled, Jesus placed them, as it were, on the threshold between hope and fear. This way, if they fell into weakness and suffering in their human frailty, the hope of his mercy might help them to recover. On the other hand, the fear of stumbling might urge them to fall less often inasmuch as they had not yet been endowed with the power from above, from on high—I mean the grace that comes through the Spirit that always keeps them from failure.

And as the disciples were afraid for themselves when Peter, the boldest and most zealous of them, had been told, The rooster will not crow until you have denied me thrice, . . . Jesus adds, In my Father’s house are many mansions, . . . by way of an assurance to them in their trouble that they might with confidence and certainty look forward, after all their trials, to dwelling together with Christ in the presence of God.

He shows the power of the Godhead within him, discerning their inward feelings when he says, Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. . . . Faith, too, in me, and in the Father who begat me, is more powerful than anything that shall come on you. And it will permit no evil thing to prevail against you.

Here, Jesus makes an able soldier out of one who recently was a coward. And while the disciples were suffering with the anxieties of fear, he commands them to cling to the intense power of faith. . . . Faith is a weapon whose blade is stout and broad; it drives away all cowardice that may spring from the expectation of coming suffering and renders the darts of evildoers utterly void of effect and makes their temptations utterly profitless.

Our Lord speaks in words deliberately chosen, so that whatever he claims for the Father, he signifies in modest language to be appropriate to himself. Take for example the command, Believe in God, and believe in me. He is identified with God in honor. How, I ask you, can he be separated from his nature? He says, Believe in me also, just as he said Believe in God. Do not the words in me signify his nature? Separate the two natures, but then you must also separate the two beliefs. If it is life that we should believe in God without Christ, strip Christ of the name and qualities of God. But if perfect life is given to those who believe in God only when they believe in Christ also, let the careful reader ponder the meaning of the saying, Believe in God, and believe in me also, for these words, uniting faith in him with faith in God, unite his nature to God’s. He enjoins first of all the duty of belief in God but adds to it the command that we should believe in himself also, which implies that he is God, since those who believe in God must also believe in him. Yet he excludes the suggestion of a unity contrary to religion, for the exhortation Believe in God, believe in me also forbids us to think of him as alone in solitude.

All things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling place, even as his Word says that a share is allotted to all by the Father, according as each person is or shall be worthy.^[1] And this is the couch on which the guests shall recline, having been invited to the wedding.^[2]

How will there be many mansions in our Father’s house, if not to match the diversity of what each deserves? How will one star also differ from another star in glory, unless in virtue of disparity in their rays?^[1]

Owing to the fact that our flesh is undergoing dissolution through its sufferings, we shall be provided with a home in heaven. . . . Because he had called the flesh a house, he wanted to use the same term elegantly in his comparison of the ultimate reward, promising to the very house that undergoes dissolution through suffering a better house through the resurrection, just as the Lord also promises us many mansions like that of a house in his Father’s home.

But he is in a certain sense preparing the dwellings by preparing for them the dwellers. As, for instance, when he said, In my Father’s house are many dwellings. What else can we suppose the house of God to mean but the temple of God? And what that is, ask the apostle, and he will reply, For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.^[1] This is also the kingdom of God that the Son is yet to deliver up to the Father. . . . For it is to this kingdom, standing then at the right hand, that it shall be said in the end, Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom.^[2] In other words, you who were the kingdom but without the power to rule, come and reign so that what you formerly were only in hope, you may now have the power to be in reality. This house of God, therefore, this temple of God, this kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven, is as yet in the process of building, of construction, of preparation, of assembling. There will be dwellings in it even as the Lord is now preparing them. There are in fact such dwellings already even as the Lord has already ordained them.

Are there many mansions in God’s house, as you have heard, or only one? Of course you will admit that there are many, and not just one. Now, are they all to be filled, or only some, and others not, so that some will be left empty and will have been prepared to no purpose? Of course all will be filled, for nothing can be in vain that has been done by God.

With my Father there is such an abundance that he can give everyone the delights of eternal happiness. . . . He tells us that here since the custom among us, when space is scarce, is to reserve a place to stay in advance due to lack of available rooms.

If there were not many mansions in God the Father’s home, he would have said that he was going on before them to prepare beforehand the homes of the saints. But since he already knew that there were many homes already fully prepared and awaiting the arrival of those who love God, he says that he will depart, but not for this purpose. Rather, he leaves in order to secure the way to the mansions above, to prepare a passage of safety for you and to smooth the paths that were formerly impassible. For in times of old, heaven was utterly inaccessible to mortals, and no flesh as yet had ever traveled that pure and all-holy realm of the angels. But Christ was the first who consecrated for us the means of access to himself and granted to flesh a way of entrance into heaven. He did this by presenting himself as an offering to God the Father, the firstfruits of those who are asleep^[1] and are lying in the tomb, and by presenting himself as the first human being that ever appeared in heaven. . . . For Christ did not ascend on high in order to present himself before the presence of God the Father. He always was and is and will be continually in the Father, in the sight of him who begat him. For he is the one in whom the Father takes delight. Rather, he who of old was the Word with no part or lot in human nature has now ascended in human form so that he may appear in heaven in a strange and unusual manner. And this he has done on our account and for our sakes in order that he, though found as a man,^[2] may still in his absolute power as Son—while yet in human form—obey the command, Sit at my right hand,^[3] and in this way transfer the glory of adoption through himself to the entire human race. For because he has appeared in human form, he is still one of us as he sits at the right hand of God the Father, even though he is far above all creation. He is also consubstantial with his Father due to the fact that he has come forth from him as truly God of God and Light of Light. He has presented himself therefore as man to the Father on our behalf so that he may restore us again, as it were, to behold the Father’s face—we who were removed from the Father’s presence by the ancient transgression. . . .

I shall not then, he says, depart to prepare mansions for you. There are already enough there. There is no need to make new homes for my creation. But I go to prepare a place for you because of the sin that has mastery over you in order that those of you who are on the earth will be able to be mingled with the holy angels. Otherwise, the holy multitude of those above would never mingle with those [below] who were so defiled. But now, when I shall have accomplished the work of uniting the world below with that above—giving you a way of access to the city on high as well—I will return again at the time of regeneration and ‘receive you with myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.’

But why has he gone away to prepare it, if it is ourselves that he prepares? If he leaves us, how can he prepare us? The meaning is that in order that those mansions may be prepared, the just must live by faith . . . and if you see, there is no faith. . . . Let Christ go away then so that he is not seen. Let him remain concealed that faith may be exercised. Then a place is prepared if you live by faith. Let faith desire so that the place desired may itself be possessed. The longing of love is the preparation of the mansion. In this way, Lord, prepare what you are preparing. For you are preparing us for yourself and yourself for us, inasmuch as you are preparing a place both for yourself in us and for us in you. For you have said, Abide in me, and I in you.^[1] As far as each one has been a partaker of you, some less, some more, such will be the diversity of rewards in proportion to the diversity of merits. The multitude of mansions will suit the multitude of inequalities among their occupants. But all of them, nonetheless, will live eternally and will be endlessly blessed.

When he says, therefore, That where I am, there you may be also, where else were they to be but in himself? In this way he is also in himself, and they, therefore, are just where he is, that is, in himself. Accordingly, he himself is that eternal life that is yet to be ours, when he has received us unto himself. As he is that life eternal, so is it in him, that where he is there shall we be also, that is to say, in himself. For as the Father has life in himself—and certainly that life that he has is in no way different from what he is himself as its possessor—so has he given to the Son to have life in himself.^[1] This is so because he is the very life that he has in himself. But will we then actually be what he is, [namely], the life when we begin our existence in that life, that is, in himself? Certainly not, for he, by his very existence as the life, has life. He is himself what he has. And just as the life is in him, so he is in himself. But we are not that life. We are partakers of his life. And we shall be there in such a way as to be wholly incapable of being in ourselves what he is. But even while we ourselves are not the life, we will be able to have him as our life. And he himself has life because of the very fact that he himself is the life.

I myself, he seems to say, am going ahead to prepare the path of entry into the heavens. But if you wish, and if it is the delight of your heart to rest within those mansions, and if you have devoted everything to reaching that city above and dwelling in the company of the holy spirits—then you know the way, which is myself. For assuredly it is through me and no one else that you will ever gain that marvelous blessing. No other will ever open the heavens to you or smooth over the ground that one on earth could ever walk—except myself alone.

The Lord said they knew the place to which and the way whereby he was going. Thomas declares he does not know either the place or the way. But Thomas does not know he is speaking falsely. They knew, but they did not know that they knew. Jesus, however, will convince them of what they already know even though they themselves imagine that they are ignorant about it.

The cross of Christ, which was set up for the salvation of mortals, is both a sacrament and an example: a sacrament whereby the divine power takes effect, an example whereby one’s devotion is excited. For to those who are rescued from the prisoner’s yoke, redemption further procures the power of following the way of the cross by imitation. For if the world’s wisdom so prides itself in its error that everyone follows the opinions and habits and whole manner of life of him whom he has chosen as his leader, how shall we share in the name of Christ except by being inseparably united to him who is, as he himself asserted, the way, the truth and the life—the way, that is, of holy living, the truth of divine doctrine and the life of eternal happiness.

We understand the way to be the road to perfection, advancing in order step by step through the words of righteousness and the illumination of knowledge, always yearning for that which lies ahead and straining toward the last mile, until we reach that blessed end, the knowledge of God, with which the Lord blesses those who believe in him. For truly our Lord is a good way, a straight road with no confusing forks or turns, leading us directly to the Father. For no one comes to the Father, he says, except through me. Such is our way up to God through his Son.

I am the way, he says, so that the power of demons may not prevail in impeding those coming to the way through the Way, to God through God. It is not possible to attain to God except through God.

I am the way. This is the proof that No one comes to the Father but by me. The truth and the life prove that these statements will be carried out. There is, then, no falsehood with me if I am ‘the truth.’ It is also the same if I am ‘life,’ since not even death shall be able to stop you from coming to me. Besides, if I am ‘the way,’ you will need no one to lead you by the hand. And, if I am also ‘the truth,’ my words are not false. If I am also ‘life,’ although you die you shall obtain what I have told you. His being the way they both understood and allowed, but the rest they did not understand. Indeed they did not venture to say what they did not know. Still they gained great consolation from his being the way. If, he says, I have sole authority to bring you to the Father, you shall surely come this way. For neither is it possible to come by any other way.

He who is the way does not lead us into by-paths or trackless wastes. He who is the truth does not mock us with lies. He who is the life does not betray us into delusions, which are death. He himself has chosen these winning names to indicate the methods that he has appointed for our salvation. As the way, he will guide us to the truth. As the truth, he will establish us in the life. And therefore it is all-important for us to know what the mysterious mode is that he reveals for attaining this life. No one comes to the Father except through me. The way to the Father is through the Son.

Christ is not only God but true God indeed—true God of true God^[1]—and I approach the true one inasmuch as he himself is the truth. If, then, we inquire his name, it is the truth. If we seek to know his natural rank and dignity, he is so truly the very Son of God, that he is indeed God’s own Son.

If they say that the Father alone is true God, they cannot deny that God the Son alone is the truth. For Christ is the truth. Is the truth then something inferior to him that is true, seeing that according to the use of terms a person is called true from the word truth, as also wise from wisdom, just from justice? We do not consider it so between the Father and the Son. For there is nothing lacking in the Father, because the Father is full of truth. And the Son, because he is the truth, is equal to him who is true.

Persevere now in walking by faith in the truth, that you may succeed in coming at a definite and due time to the sight of the same truth. For as the apostle says, While staying here in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we are walking by faith, not by sight.^[1] We are led to the direct sight and vision of the Father by Christian faith. That is why the Lord says, No one comes to the Father except through me.

There are three means by which we shall reach the divine courts that are above and enter the church of the firstborn:^[1] by practicing every kind of virtue; by faith in right doctrine; by hope of the life to come. Is there anyone other than our Lord Jesus the Christ who could ever be a leader, a helper or a means for granting us success in these kinds of things? Surely not! Do not even entertain such an idea! For he himself has taught us things beyond the Law. He has pointed out to us the way that anyone might safely take that would lead to a life of incredible virtue and to a highly motivated and unhindered performance of those actions that follow the pattern of Christ. And so he himself is the truth, he is the way, that is, the true boundary of faith and the exact rule and standard of an unerring conception concerning God. For by a true belief in the Son, namely, as begotten of the very essence of God the Father and as bearing the title of Son in its fullest and truest meaning—and not even in any sense a made or created being—we shall then clothe ourselves in the confidence of a true faith. For one who has received the Son as a Son has fully confessed a belief also in him of whose essence the Son is, and that person knows and will immediately accept God as the Father. Therefore he is the truth, he is the life, for no one else will restore to us the life that is within our hopes, namely, that life that is in incorruption, blessedness and sanctification. For it is he that raises us up and who will bring us back again from the death we died under the ancient curse to the state in which we were at the beginning.

He himself has said, I am the life. What the soul is to the body is what Christ is to the soul. Without the soul, the body does not live. The soul does not live without Christ. As soon as the soul leaves the body, stench, corruption, rottenness, the worm, ashes, horror and everything that is loathsome to the sight take its place. When God leaves, immediately the stench of faithlessness, the corruption of sin, the rottenness of the vices, the worm of guilt, the ashes of vanities and the horror of infidelity enter the soul, and there comes to pass in the living tomb of the body the death of the soul now buried.

[Eunomius] speaks of God as without beginning, eternally without end, alone. Once more understand, you simple ones, as Solomon says, his subtlety,^[1] in case you might be deceived and fall headlong into the denial of the Godhead of the only-begotten Son. Whatever is devoid of death or decay is that which is without end. That, likewise, is called everlasting that does not exist only for a time. That, therefore, which is neither everlasting nor without end is surely seen in the nature that is perishable and mortal. And so, the one who predicates unendingness of the one and only God and does not include the Son in the assertion of unendingness and eternity maintains by such a proposition that he whom he thus contrasts with the eternal and unending is perishable and temporary. But we, even when we are told that God alone has immortality,^[2] understand by immortality the Son. For life is immortality, and the Lord is that life who said, I am the Life.

The one who is himself the Truth and the Word, by whom all things were made, was made flesh so that he might dwell among us. And yet, the apostle still says, Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet from now on we know him no more.^[1] For Christ, desiring not only to give the possession to those who had completed the journey but also to be himself the way to those who were just setting out, determined to take a fleshly body. This is the source of that expression, The Lord created me in the beginning of his way.^[2] Those who desire to come [to the Father] begin their journey in [the Son]. The apostle, therefore, although still on the way . . . had already passed over the beginning of the way and had now no further need of it. And yet, everyone who wants to attain to the truth and to rest in eternal life has to start the journey by this way. For Jesus says, I am the way, and the truth and the life; that is, by me men and women come. To me they come, in me they rest. For when we come to him, we come to the Father also, because through an equal an equal is known.

Except through him there is no approach to the Father. But there is also no approach to him unless the Father draws us. Understanding him to be the Son of God, we recognize in him the true nature of the Father. And so, when we learn to know the Son, God the Father calls us. When we believe the Son, God the Father receives us. For our recognition and knowledge of the Father is in the Son who shows us in himself God the Father. The Father draws us by his fatherly love, if we are devout, into a mutual bond with his Son.

We approach the Father in two ways: either by becoming holy,^[1] as far as is possible for humanity . . . or else we arrive, through faith and contemplation, at that knowledge of the Father which is as it were in a mirror darkly.^[2] But no one would ever be holy and make progress in a life according to the rule of virtue unless Christ were the guide of his footsteps in everything. And no one would ever be united to God the Father except through the mediation of Christ, for he is the mediator between God and humanity, through himself and in himself uniting humanity to God. . . . No one, therefore, will come to the Father, that is, will appear as a partaker of the divine nature, except through Christ alone. For if he had not become a mediator by taking human form, our condition could never have advanced to such a height of blessedness. But now, if anyone approaches the Father in a spirit of faith and reverent knowledge, he will do so by the help of our Savior Christ himself.

Lord Jesus, we do follow you, but we can come only at your bidding. No one can make the ascent without you, for you are our way, our truth, our life, our strength, our confidence, our reward. Be the way that receives us, the truth that strengthens us, the life that invigorates us.

Do not err, my brethren. If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If anyone walks according to a strange opinion, he does not agree with the Passion [of Christ]. Take heed, then, to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth] the unity of his blood; one altar; as there is one bishop, along with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow servants: that so, whatever you do, you do it according to [the will of] God.

We have been taught that Christ is the firstborn of God, and we have declared that he is the Word of whom every race of men are partakers; and those who live reasonably are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them; and among the barbarians, Abraham, and Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, and Elias, and many others whose actions and names we now decline to recount, because we know it would be tedious. So that even those who lived before Christ, and lived without reason, were wicked and hostile to Christ, and slew those who lived reasonably. But he who, through the power of the Word, according to the will of God the Father and Lord of all, was born of a Virgin as a man, and was named Jesus, and was crucified, and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, an intelligent man will be able to comprehend from what has been said.

Accordingly, before the advent of the Lord, philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness. And now it is conducive to piety, as a kind of preparatory training to those who attain faith through demonstration. “For your foot,” it is said, “will not stumble, if you refer what is good, whether belonging to the Greeks or to us, to Providence” [Prv 3:23]. For God is the cause of all good things; but of some primarily, as of the Old and the New Testament; and of others by consequence, as philosophy. Perhaps philosophy was given to the Greeks directly and primarily, until the Lord should call them.

[T]here was never a time when God did not wish to make men live righteous lives; but he continually showed his care for the improvement of the rational animal by affording him occasions for the exercise of virtue. For in every generation the wisdom of God, passing into those souls it ascertains to be holy, converts them into friends and prophets of God.

The Son reveals the knowledge of the Father through his own manifestation. For the manifestation of the Son is the knowledge of the Father, since all things are manifested through the Word.

How can knowledge of him be knowledge of the Father? For the apostles see him wearing the aspect of that human nature that belongs to him. But God is not encumbered with body and flesh and is unrecognizable by those who dwell in our weak and fleshly body. The answer is given by the Lord, who asserts that under the flesh that, in a mystery, he had taken, his Father’s nature dwells within him. . . . He makes a distinction between the time of seeing and the time of knowing. He says that from this time onward they shall know him whom they had already seen and so shall possess, from the time of this revelation onward, the knowledge of that nature on which, in him, they had gazed for so long.

It was not the carnal body that he had received by birth from the Virgin that could manifest to them the image and likeness of God. The human aspect that he wore could be no aid toward the mental vision of the incorporeal God. But God was recognized in Christ by those who recognized Christ as the Son on the evidence of the powers of his divine nature. And a recognition of God the Son produces a recognition of God the Father. For the Son is in such a sense the image as to be one in kind with the Father and yet in a way that indicates that the Father is his origin.

He does not contradict himself. They knew him indeed, but not as they should have. God they knew, but they did not yet know the Father. For afterward, when the Spirit came upon them, he formed in them all knowledge. It is as if he had said, If you had known my essence and my dignity, you would have known that of the Father also. And from this time onward you shall know him, and you have seen him. The [knowing] belongs to the future; the [seeing] belongs to the present. Both are brought about by me. By sight, he means knowledge by intellectual perception. For those who are seen we may see but not know. Those, however, who are known we cannot both know and not know. . . . These words are used so that you may learn that the one who has seen him knows him who begat him.^[1] But they beheld him not in his unveiled essence but clothed with flesh.

The novel sound of these words of Jesus disturbed the apostle Philip. A man is before their eyes. This man asserts that he is the Son of God and declares that when they have known him they will know the Father. He tells them that they have seen the Father and that, because they have seen him, they shall know him hereafter. . . . And so Philip spoke out with the loyalty and confidence of an apostle, requesting, Lord, show us the Father, and that will suffice. He was not tampering with the faith. It was only a mistake made in ignorance. . . . Philip did not deny that the Father could be seen but only asked that he might see him. He did not ask that the Father should be unveiled so that he could see him with his bodily eyes, but that he might have some further indication that would enlighten him concerning how the Father could be seen. For he had seen the Son under the aspect of humanity but cannot understand how he could thereby have seen the Father.

When Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough for us, he understood well enough that being shown the Father could satisfy him. But if the one who is equal to the Father was not enough for him, how would the Father be enough? And why wasn’t he enough for him? Because he was not seen. Why wasn’t he seen? Because the eye he could be seen with was not yet whole. As for the Lord’s body, which could be seen with these eyes, it was not only the ones who revered him who saw him but also the Jews who crucified him. So if he wanted to be seen in another way, it means he was requiring other eyes. And that is why he gave this reply to the one who said, Show us the Father, and that is enough for us: Have I been with you all this time, and you do not know me? Philip, whoever sees me also sees the Father. And to heal the eyes of faith in the meantime, he is first admonished in terms of faith, so that he may be enabled to attain to sight. And in case Philip should assume that God is to be thought of in the same way as he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh, he immediately added, Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?

By means of this image the Lord showed Philip the Father. Yes, he who looks on the Son sees, in portrait, the Father. Notice what kind of portrait is spoken of. It is truth, righteousness, the power of God. It is not silent, for it is the Word. It is not insensible, for it is Wisdom. It is not vain and foolish, for it is power. It is not soulless, for it is the life. It is not dead, for it is the resurrection.

In the Old Testament it says, No one shall see my face and live.^[1] What does Christ say? Very reprovingly he says, Have I been with you for so long, and have you not known me, Philip? He did not say have you not seen but have you not known me. Why, Philip might say, would I want to learn anything concerning you? At present I want to see your Father, and you say to me, ‘Have you not known me?’ What connection then does this have with the question? Surely a very close one. For if he is that which the Father is, yet continues to be a Son, there is a definite reason for showing in himself the one who begat him. Then to distinguish the persons he says, He who has seen me has seen the Father, in case anyone should assert that the same person is Father and Son. For had he been the Father, he would not have said, He who has seen me has seen him.

In the church, I know of only one image, that is, the image of the unseen God. God has said about this image, Let us make man [humankind] in our image.^[1] Of this image it is written that Christ is the effulgence of the glory and impress of his hypostasis.^[2] In that image, I perceive the Father as the Lord Jesus himself has said, The one who has seen me has seen the Father. For this image is not separated from the Father, which indeed has taught me the unity of the Trinity, saying, I and the Father are one,^[3] and again, All things whatever the Father has are mine.^[4] [In this image, also perceive] the Holy Spirit, seeing that the Spirit is Christ’s and has received of Christ, as it is written, He shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you.^[5]

I ask whether he is the visible likeness of the invisible God and whether the infinite God can also be presented to view under the likeness of a finite form. For a likeness must necessarily repeat the form of that of which it is the likeness. Let those, however, who want there to be a nature of a different sort in the Son determine what sort of likeness of the invisible God they wish the Son to be. Is it a bodily likeness exposed to the gaze and moving from place to place with human gait and motion? No, rather let them remember that according to the Gospels and the prophets both Christ is a Spirit and God is a Spirit. If they confine this Christ the spirit within the bounds of shape and body, such a corporeal Christ will not be the likeness of the invisible God, nor will a finite limitation represent that which is infinite.

He who has seen me has seen the Father; this does not mean that he has seen the image and the form of the divine nature, since the divine nature is simple, not composed of various parts. Goodness of will is a current in the stream of the divine essence, and thus is perceived to be the same in the Father and the Son.^[1]

So, he says, was not such a long time sufficient to teach you about my Father and me? And yet you still are looking to see him. If you had known me, you would have known the Father through me and would have not thought that he can be seen with bodily eyes. Since the expression you still do not know me seemed not to fit in with the words show us the Father, he clearly explains this by saying, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ There is no difference, he says, so that whoever sees me sees the Father himself. There is a perfect similarity between us two that shows the Father himself in me. Very aptly he adds, How can you say? as he confirms through his open amazement the words said above. How can you ask me, he says, to show you the Father, if not for the fact that you ignore me completely? Therefore what I said is true, You neither know my Father nor me. If you had known me, you would have known him too, because the perfect likeness would have shown him.

He rebukes the apostle for defective knowledge of himself. For previously he had said that when he was known the Father was known also. But what did they mean when he complained that for so long they had not known him? It means this: that if they had known him, they must have recognized in him the Godhead that belongs to his Father’s nature. For his works were the peculiar works of God.

The words of the Lord, I am in the Father and the Father is in me, confuse many minds, and this is only natural since the powers of human reason cannot provide them with any intelligible meaning. It seems impossible that one object should be both within and without another, or that—since it is laid down that the beings of whom we are treating, although they do not dwell apart, retain their separate existence and condition—these beings can reciprocally contain one another so that one should permanently envelope and be permanently enveloped by the other whom yet he envelopes. This is a problem that human wisdom will never solve, nor will human research ever find an analogy for this condition of divine existence. But God can be what human beings cannot understand.

The Lord speaks the truth who says, I am in the Father and the Father in me—plainly, the one in his entirety is in the other in his entirety. The Father does not have an overwhelming presence in the Son. The Son is not deficient in the Father. And the Lord also says that the Son should be honored.^[1] And, The one who has seen me has seen the Father, and, No one fully knows the Father except the Son.^[2] In all of this, there is no hint . . . of any variation in glory or of essence or anything else between the Father and the Son.

For the Son is the envoy of God the Father in accordance with nature. And so he says . . . I am in the Father and the Father is in me. For the Father is understood through this to be in the Son, because their substance is one. For where there is unity, there is no differentiation. And they are interchangeable, because both their appearance and likeness are the same, with the consequence that he who sees the Son is said to have seen the Father too. As the Lord himself says, He who has seen me has seen the Father too. Therefore it is correct to say, God was in Christ.

In no other words than these that the Son has used can the fact be stated that Father and Son, being alike in nature, are inseparable. The Son, who is the way and the truth and the life,^[1] is not deceiving us by some theatrical transformation of names and aspects when he, while wearing manhood, styles himself the Son of God. He is not falsely concealing the fact that he is God the Father.^[2] He is not a single person who hides his features under a mask so that we might imagine that two are present. He is not a solitary being, now posing as his own Son, and then again calling himself the Father, adorning the one unchanging nature with varying names. . . . It is the height of impiety to believe that Father and Son are two gods. It is sacrilege to assert that Father and Son are singularly God.^[3] It is blasphemy to deny the unity, consisting in sameness of kind, of God from God.

That the Father dwells in the Son proves that the Father is not isolated and alone. That the Father works through the Son proves that the Son is not an alien or a stranger. There cannot be one person only, for he speaks not of himself. And, conversely, they cannot be separate and divided when the one speaks through the voice of the other. These words are the revelation of the mystery of their unity.

If, he would say, my Father had spoken anything to you, he would not have used any other words than these that I am now speaking. For so great is the equality in essence between myself and him that my words are his words, and whatever I do may be believed to be his actions. For, because he abides in me, by reason of the exact equivalence in essence, he himself does the works. For since the Godhead is one in the Father, in the Son and in the Spirit, every word that comes from the Father comes always through the Son by the Spirit. Every work or miracle is through the Son by the Spirit, and yet it is considered as coming from the Father. For the Son is not apart from the essence of the Father, nor indeed is the Holy Spirit. But the Son, being in the Father and having the Father again in himself, claims that the Father is the doer of the works. For the nature of the Father is mighty in operation and shines out clearly in the Son.

And one might add to this another meaning that is involved, suggested clearly by the principles that underlie the incarnation. He says, I speak not of myself, meaning, not in separation from or in lack of agreement with God the Father. For since he appeared to those who saw him in human form, he refers his words to the divine nature, as speaking in the person of the Father. It is the same with his actions. He almost seems to say, Do not let this human form deprive me of that reverent estimation that is due and befitting to me, and do not suppose that my words are those of a mere human or of one like yourselves. Rather, believe them to be in very truth divine words that would be just as fitting for the Father as they are for me. And he is the one who works, abiding in me. For I am in him, and he is in me. Do not think therefore that a mighty and extraordinary privilege was granted to the people of former days because they saw God in a vision of fire and heard his voice speaking to them. For you have in reality seen the Father through me and in me, since I have appeared among you, being in my nature God, and have come visibly, according to the words of the psalmist.^[1] And be well assured that in hearing my words, you heard the words of the Father. And you have been spectators of his works and of the might that is in him. For by me he speaks as by his own Word. And in me he carries out and achieves his wondrous works, as though by his own power.

The Father was not born of the Virgin, and yet this birth of the Son from the Virgin was the work of both Father and Son. The Father did not suffer on the cross, and yet the passion of the Son was the work of both Father and Son. The Father did not rise again from the dead, and yet the resurrection of the Son was the work of both Father and Son. You have the persons quite distinct, and their working inseparable. So let us never say that the Father worked anything without the Son, the Son anything without the Father. Or perhaps you are worried about the miracles Jesus did, in case perhaps he did some that the Father did not do? Then what about But the Father abiding in me does his works?

So then, with all these ways of speaking we still have to understand that the activities of the divine three are inseparable, so that when an activity is attributed to the Father he is not taken to engage in it without the Son and the Holy Spirit. And when it is an activity of the Son, it is not without the Son and the Holy Spirit. And when it is an activity of the Son, it is not without the Father and the Son. That being the case, those who have the right faith, or better still the right understanding as far as they can, know well enough that the reason it is said about the Father, He does the works, is that the works have their origin in the one from whom the co-working persons have their very existence. The Son, you see, is born of him, and the Holy Spirit proceeds primarily from him of whom the Son is born, being the Spirit common to them both.

Let us proceed then to consider the attributes of the Father, and we shall come to know whether this Image is really his. The Father is eternal, immortal, powerful, light, King, Sovereign, God, Lord, Creator and Maker. These attributes must be in the Image to make it true that whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father. If the Son is not all this, but, as the Arians consider, he is originate and not eternal, this is not a true image of the Father, unless indeed they give up shame and go on to say that the title of image, given to the Son, is not a token of a similar essence, but his name only.

Among all the words said so far, especially here, he clearly shows that he talks about their likeness. Indeed, in the same way, by turning the speech to the Father and him, he reveals the perfect likeness of their nature, so that, as the Father lives in him, and he in the Father, a perfect likeness can be shown in each of them. Then he proves and confirms his words by saying, The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own. If you do not believe, he says, in these words, know that so perfect is the conformity of nature, ideas, and virtue that there is no difference in the words either. Whatever I say is in common, and do not only speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works. It would have been opportune to add, My Father speaks through the words: I do not speak. But he had said above, The words that I say, and here, The Father does his works, in order to show that the nature is common, the words are common and the works are common as well. From this it is evident that through the words, I do not speak on my own, he does not signify an inferior state, but a perfect communion and an inseparable union. And this appears especially from the context.

His power belonged to his nature, and his working was the exercise of that power. In the exercise of that power, then, they might recognize in him the unity with the Father’s nature. To the extent that anyone recognized him to be God in the power of his nature, that person would come to know God the Father who was present in that mighty nature. The Son, who is equal with the Father, showed by his works that the Father could be seen in him so that when we perceived in the Son a nature like the Father’s in its power, we might know that in Father and Son there is no distinction of nature.

In these words Christ distinctly says that he could never have worked and accomplished those miracles that are unique to the divine nature if he, himself, had not been essentially of the same divine nature. . . . [Only heretics] whose hearts are devoid of the Holy Spirit make separations between the Father and the Son and assert that the Son is essentially and completely severed from the Father in the way that created things and divine works are separate from God the Father.

Skillfully inserting here the word also, he has allowed us similarity and yet has not ascribed natural unity. The work of the Father and the work of the Son, therefore, are one.

And so he promised that he himself would also do those greater works. Do not let the servant exalt himself above his Lord or the disciple above his Master.^[1] He says that they will do greater works than he does himself, but it is all by his doing such works in or by them, and not as if they did them of themselves. And so we have the song that is addressed to him, I will love you, O Lord, my strength.^[2] But what, then, are those greater works? Was it that their very shadow, as they themselves passed by, that healed the sick?^[3] For it is a mightier thing for a shadow, than for the hem of a garment, to possess the power of healing.^[4] The one work was done by Christ himself, the other by them. And yet it was he that did both.

But there is still something to excite thought in his doing such greater works by the apostles. For he did not say, as if merely with reference to them, the works that I do shall you do also. And greater works than these shall you do, but wishing to be understood as speaking of all that belonged to his family, he said, He who believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do. If, then, he who believes shall do such works, he who shall not do them is certainly no believer, just as He who loves me, keeps my commandments^[1] implies, of course, that whoever does not keep them does not love. . . . In a similar way, also, it is said here, He who believes in me shall do such works. The one who does not do good works, therefore, is no believer. What have we here, then, brothers? Is it that one is not to be counted among believers in Christ who will not do greater works than Christ? It would be hard, unreasonable, intolerable to suppose so, that is, unless it is rightly understood. Let us listen, then, to the apostle when he says, To him who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.^[2] This is the work in which we may be doing the works of Christ, for even our very believing in Christ is the work of Christ.

This refers to the other miracles that the apostles did, such as healing a man through their shadow falling on him. But this incident did not reveal the fullness of this saying, but rather it was fulfilled in the fact that, when he used the power of the Godhead for an act of kindness, the disciples on the one hand worked through the power given to them for the service of those who believe and the punishment of the extremely wicked, and on the other hand they exceeded the power of their teacher, even though he was mightier in his ability to punish the godless, since he chose to restrain and control his power to punish in the meantime until the right moment of judgment.

We said above that the words I am going to the Father refer to [his union with the Father after his passion]. After . . . this union, he will have the power to give everything to those who ask him, because by asking they ask for the greatness dwelling in him.^[1] He can give because of his [union with the Father], and the Father then is completely recognized in the Son to be excellent and admirable.

But if we think it impious to believe that the Father has handed over all judgment to the Son in such a way that he does not have it himself—for he has it and cannot lose what the divine majesty has by its very nature—we ought to consider it equally impious to suppose that the Son cannot give what either men and women can merit or any creature can receive, especially as he himself has said, I go to my Father, and whatever you shall ask of him in my name, that will I do. For if the Son cannot give what the Father can give, the Truth has lied and cannot do what the Father has been asked for in his name. He therefore did not say, For whom it has been prepared by my Father, in order that requests should be made only of the Father. For all things that are asked of the Father, [the Son] has declared that he [himself] will give. And finally, he did not say, Whatever you shall ask of me, that will I do but Whatever you shall ask of him in my name, that will I do.

Whatever you shall ask. Then why do we often see believers asking and not receiving? Perhaps it is that they do not ask correctly. . . . When a person would make a bad use of what he asks for, God in his mercy does not grant him it. It is even more the case that if someone asks what would, if answered, only tend to his injury, there is surely greater cause to fear, in case what God could not withhold with kindness, he should give in his anger. . . . Still if God even in kindness often refuses the requests of believers, how are we to understand Whatever you shall ask in my name, I will do? Was this said to the apostles only? No. He says above, He who believes in me, the works that I do he shall do also. . . . And if we go to the lives of the apostles themselves, we shall find that he who labored more than them all prayed that the messenger of Satan might depart from him^[1] but was not granted his request. . . . Wake up then, believer, and note what is stated here: In my name. That [name] is Christ Jesus. Christ signifies King, Jesus signifies Savior. . . . Therefore whatever we ask for that would hinder our salvation, we do not ask in our Savior’s name, and yet he is our Savior not only when he does what we ask but also when he does not. When he sees us ask anything to the disadvantage of our salvation, he shows himself our Savior by not doing it. The physician knows whether what the sick person asks for is to the advantage or disadvantage of his health. And [the physician] does not allow what would be harmful to him, though the sick person himself desires it. But the physician looks to his final cure. . . . And some things we may even ask in his name, and he will not grant them to us at the time, though he will some time. What we ask for is deferred, not denied. . . . He adds, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. The Son does not do anything without the Father, inasmuch as he does it in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son, . . . for the Father and Son are one.

[Heretics are] so far . . . from being able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised them and the apostles did by means of prayer, and as has been frequently done in the [Catholic] brotherhood on account of some necessity. The entire church in that particular locality entreating with much fasting and prayer, the spirit of the dead man has returned, and he has been given in answer to the prayers of the saints.

The citizens of that parish mention many other miracles of Narcissus, in the tradition of the brethren who succeeded him; among which they relate the following wonder he performed. They say that the oil once failed while the deacons were watching through the night at the great paschal vigil. They were dismayed, so Narcissus directed those who attended to the lights to draw water and bring it to him. This being done, he prayed over the water, and with firm faith in the Lord, commanded them to pour it into the lamps. And when they did it, contrary to all expectation, by a wonderful and divine power the water was changed into oil. A small portion of it has been preserved even to this day by many of the brethren there as a memento of the wonder.

For even in our generation, in the instance of Julian, who surpassed all in ungodliness, many strange things happened. When the Jews were attempting to raise up the temple at Jerusalem, fire burst out from the foundations and utterly hindered them; and when both his treasurer, and his uncle and namesake, made the sacred vessels the subject of insolence, the one was “eaten with worms, and gave up the ghost,” the other “burst asunder.” Moreover, the fountains failed when sacrifices were made there, and the entrance of famine in the cities where the emperor went was a very great sign. For it is usual with God to do such things when evils are multiplied.

As I do not wish anything that takes place here in your absence to escape the knowledge of your holiness, you must know that we have found some bodies of holy martyrs. For after I dedicated the basilica, many said to me: “Consecrate this as you did the Roman basilica.” And I answered: “Certainly I will if I find any relics of martyrs.” And at once a kind of prophetic ardor entered my heart. Why should I use many words? God favored us, and even the clergy who were bidden to clear away the earth from the spot before the chancel screen of Ss. Felix and Nabor were afraid. I found the fitting signs, and on bringing in some on whom hands were to be laid, the power of the holy martyrs became so manifest that even while I was silent, one was seized and thrown prostrate at the holy burial place. We found two men of marvelous stature, such as those of ancient days. All the bones were perfect, and there was much blood. During those two days there was an enormous concourse of people. Quickly we arranged the whole in order, and as evening was now coming on transferred them to the basilica of Fausta, where watch was kept during the night, and some received the laying on of hands. On the following day we moved the relics to the basilica called Ambrosian. During the removal a blind man was healed.

[S]he set out accompanied by her handmaids and eunuchs, and was hardly persuaded by her husband to take an ass to ride upon. On reaching the saint she said, “I pray you by Jesus our most merciful God, I beseech you by his cross and blood, to restore to me my three sons, so that the name of our Lord and Savior may be glorified in the city of the Gentiles. Then his servants shall enter Gaza and the idol Marnas fall to the ground.” At first he refused and said that he never left his cell and was not accustomed to enter a house, much less the city; but she threw herself upon the ground and cried repeatedly, “Hilarion, servant of Christ, give me back my children: Antony kept them safe in Egypt, you save them in Syria.” All present were weeping, and the saint himself wept as he denied her. But the woman did not leave him until he promised that he would enter Gaza after sunset. On coming there he made the sign of the cross over the bed and fevered limbs of each, and called upon the name of Jesus. Marvelous efficacy of the name! As if from three fountains the sweat burst forth at the same time. In that very hour they took food, recognized their mourning mother, and, with thanks to God, warmly kissed the saint’s hands.

In the same city of Carthage lived Innocentia, a very devout woman of the highest rank in the state. She had cancer in one of her breasts, a disease that physicians say is incurable. Ordinarily, therefore, they either amputate, and so separate from the body the diseased member, or, to prolong the patient’s life, though death is inevitable even if delayed, they abandon all remedies, following the advice of Hippocrates. This lady had been advised by a skillful physician who was intimate with her family; and she gave herself to God alone in prayer. When Easter approached, she was instructed in a dream to wait for the first woman to came out from the baptistry after being baptized, and ask her to make the sign of Christ upon her sore. She did so, and was immediately cured.

For even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ, whether by his sacraments or by the prayers or relics of his saints. . . . But who but a very small number are aware of the cure that was wrought upon Innocentius . . . at Carthage, in my presence, and under my own eyes? . . . For he and all his household were devoutly pious. He was being treated by medical men for fistulae, of which he had a large number. . . . He had already undergone an operation but needed another. . . . [H]e cast himself down . . . and began to pray; but in what a manner, with what earnestness and emotion, with what a flood of tears, with what groans and sobs that shook his whole body and almost prevented him speaking. . . . [And when the] surgeons arrived, everything was ready; the frightful instruments were produced; all looked on in wonder and suspense. . . . [But the surgeon] found a perfectly firm scar! No words of mine can describe the joy, and praise, and thanksgiving to the merciful and almighty God that were poured from the lips of all with tears of gladness. Let the scene [of rejoicing] be imagined rather than described!

A gouty doctor of the same city, when he had given his name for baptism and had been forbidden the day before his baptism from being baptized that year by black woolly-haired boys who appeared to him in his dreams (and whom he understood to be devils), and when . . . he refused to obey them but overcame them and would not defer being washed in the washing of regeneration, was relieved in the very act of baptism, not only of the extraordinary pain he was tortured with, but also of the disease itself.

What am I to do? I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work that I cannot record all the miracles I know, and doubtless several of our adherents, when they read what I have narrated, will regret that I have omitted many that they, as well as I, certainly know. Even now I beg these persons to excuse me and to consider how long it would take me to relate all those miracles, which the necessity of finishing the work I have undertaken forces me to omit. . . . Even now, therefore, many miracles are wrought, the same God who wrought those we read of [in the Bible is] still performing them, by whom he will and as he will.

At all times it is works and actions that we need, not a mere show of words. It is easy for anyone to say or promise something, but it is not so easy to act on that word or promise. . . . If you love me, Christ said, keep my commandments. . . . I have commanded you to love one another and to do to one another as I have done to you. To love me is to obey these commands and to submit to me, your beloved.

Having determined and expressly declared that the enjoyment of the heavenly blessings (supplied, that is, through him by the Father) is both due to those who love him and in very truth shall be theirs, he immediately goes on to describe the power of love. He provides excellent and irreproachable instruction to us for our profit with the intent that we should devote ourselves to its pursuit. For even if a person says that he loves God, he will not immediately merit credit for having true love of God, since the power of virtue does not stand on bare speech alone, nor piety on naked words. Rather, it is distinguished by performance of good deeds and an obedient disposition. Keeping the divine commandments is the best way to give living expression to our love toward God. It presents the picture of a life lived in all its fullness and truth. It is not a life sketched out in mere sounds that flow from the tongue. It gleams instead with the altogether radiant and brilliant colors that paint a portrait of good works.

How, then, did the apostles love, but in the Holy Spirit? And yet they are commanded to love him and keep his commandments before they have received him and, in fact, in order to receive him. And yet, without having that Spirit, they certainly could not love him and keep his commandments. We are therefore to understand that he who loves already has the Holy Spirit, and by what he has he becomes worthy of a fuller possession, that by having more he may love more. The disciples, therefore, already had that Holy Spirit whom the Lord promised, for without him they could not call him Lord. But they had him not as yet in the way promised by the Lord. . . . He was yet to be given them in an ampler measure.^[1]

If we too, dearly beloved, love Christ perfectly in such a way that we prove the genuineness of this love by our observance of his commandments, he will ask the Father on our behalf, and the Father will give us another Paraclete. He will ask the Father through his humanity and will give [us another Paraclete] with the Father through his divinity. We must not suppose that it was only before his passion that he was asking on behalf of the church and that now, after his ascension, he is not also asking, since the apostle speaks of him, who is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us.^[1]

This promise shows once again Christ’s consideration. Because his disciples did not yet know who he was, it was likely that they would greatly miss his companionship, his teaching, his actual physical presence, and be completely disconsolate when he had gone. Therefore he said, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, meaning another like himself. . . . They received the Spirit after Christ had purified them by his sacrifice. The Spirit did not come down on them while Christ was still with them because this sacrifice had not yet been offered. But when sin had been blotted out and the disciples, sent out to face danger, were preparing themselves for the battle, they needed the Holy Spirit’s coming to encourage them. If you ask why the Spirit did not come immediately after the resurrection, this was in order to increase their gratitude for receiving him by increasing their desire. They were troubled by nothing as long as Christ was with them, but when his departure had left them desolate and very much afraid, they would be most eager to receive the Spirit.

The Spirit came after Christ so that we would not lack a Comforter. But he is called another Comforter so that you might acknowledge his co-equality. For this word another defines an alter ego, a name of equal lordship, not of inequality. We do not use the word another for different kinds of things but for those that are consubstantial.

It was good that he said another so that you might not think that the Son is the Spirit, for there is a unity of the name and no Sabellian^[1] confusion of the Son and of the Spirit.

But when Jesus says, I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, he intimates that he himself is also a Paraclete. For Paraclete is in Latin called advocatus [advocate]. And it is said of Christ, We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.^[1]

The apostle says that the Comforter—the title given to the third person of the Trinity—is God. In his epistle to the Corinthians he says, God, who comforts those who are cast down, comforts us.^[1] The Holy Spirit who comforts those who are cast down is therefore God. . . . Or if they rather take these words of the apostle as applying to the Father or the Son, let them no longer, then, separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son or make the Holy Spirit appear less than the Son, when it is his peculiar [office] to offer comfort.

For the Only Begotten of God himself desired no difference to be felt between himself and the Holy Spirit in the faith of believers and in the efficacy of his works because there is no diversity in their nature.

But the Holy Spirit was another Comforter differing not in nature but in operation. For whereas our Savior, in his office of mediator, and of messenger and as high priest, made supplication for our sins, the Holy Spirit is a Comforter in another sense, that is, as consoling our griefs. But do not infer from the different operations of the Son and the Spirit a difference of nature. For in other places we find the Holy Spirit performing the office of intercessor with the Father, as when the Spirit himself intercedes for us.^[1] . . . And the Savior . . . pours consolation into those hearts that need it, as in Maccabees, he strengthened those of the people who were brought low.^[2]

I will confer the grace of the Holy Spirit, he says, so that you may always have it with you to teach you the truth. He speaks of another Advocate, as of another instructor, a comforter. This is a doctrine for those in dire straits because the Spirit, through its grace, will make the afflictions inflicted on them by people lighter. And, as a consolation, through its gifts, it will enable them to easily endure their afflictions. This is what actually happened. Indeed, the more his disciples feared death before, the more they rejoiced in tribulations after the descent of the Spirit. He calls it Spirit of truth since it teaches nothing but the truth, nor can it ever change to the contrary in order to teach anything different from the truth. He says another in relation to himself, for while he was among them, he certainly filled the same role for them. In addition they received from the Holy Spirit the confirmation of all those things that he had taught them when he was present. Thus our Lord said, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you. And you will be my witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and among the Samaritans, and all nations.^[1]

We have here, at all events, the Holy Spirit in the Trinity whom the catholic faith acknowledges to be consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son.

The Lord called the Spirit Spirit of truth and Paraclete, showing that the Triad^[1] is complete in him. In him the Word makes glorious the creation and, by bestowing on it divine life and sonship, draws it to the Father. But that which joins creation to the Word cannot belong to the creatures. And that which bestows sonship upon the creation could not be alien from the Son. For we should have otherwise to seek another spirit, so that by him this Spirit might be joined to the Word. But that would be absurd. The Spirit, therefore, does not belong to things originated. He pertains to the Godhead of the Father, and in him the Word makes things originated divine. But he in whom creation is made divine cannot be outside the Godhead of the Father.^[2]

Again [the Shepherd] said to me, Love the truth, and let nothing but truth proceed from your mouth,^[1] so that the spirit that God has placed in your flesh may be found truthful before all. And the Lord who dwells in you^[2] will be glorified, because the Lord is truthful in every word, and in him is no falsehood. They therefore who lie deny the Lord and rob him, not giving back to him the deposit that they have received. For they received from him a spirit free from falsehood. If they give him back this spirit untruthful, they pollute the commandment of the Lord and become robbers.

Only the Spirit can adequately glorify the Lord. He will glorify me,^[1] not as a creature, but as the Spirit of truth, since he himself is truth shining brightly. He is the Spirit of wisdom, revealing Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, in his own greatness. As the Paraclete he reflects the goodness of the Paraclete (the Father)^[2] who sent him, and his own dignity reveals the majesty of him from whom he proceeded. . . . If we are illumined by divine power and fix our eyes on the beauty of the image of the invisible God, and [if we] through the image are led up to the indescribable beauty of its source, it is because we have been inseparably joined to the Spirit of knowledge. He gives those who love the vision of truth the power that enables them to see the image. And this power is himself. He does not reveal it to them from outside sources but leads them to knowledge personally: No one knows the Father except the Son,^[3] and No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.^[4] Notice that it does not say through the Spirit but in the Spirit. It also says, God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth,^[5] and in your light do we see light,^[6] through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the true light that enlightens every one who comes into the world.^[7] He reveals the glory of the Only Begotten in himself, and he gives true worshipers the knowledge of God in himself. The way to divine knowledge ascends from one Spirit through the one Son to the one Father.

He calls the world the inhabitants of this world who are given over to love of it.^[1] In contrast, the saints are on fire with a desire for heavenly things. . . . And so, anyone who is searching for consolation outwardly in the things of the world is not capable of being reformed inwardly by the favor of divine consolation. Whoever yearns after lowly delight cannot receive the Spirit of truth. The Spirit of truth flees from a heart it discerns is subject to vanity and restores by the light of his coming only those it beholds carrying out the commandments of truth out of love.

Thus, his coming would not be perceived by those who think only about visible matters . . . since whatever they do not see with their eyes they cannot know or even imagine to exist, whereas those who can partake of the Spirit are able to perceive him when he comes. They have a better perception of spiritual things because they are partakers of the Spirit and thus distinguish themselves from the world since they are filled with the Spirit. Through their participation with the divine [Spirit], they have a unique understanding of his art and the divine power behind it, just as someone who has wisdom or a certain art understands in himself what he has, even if it remains unknown to his neighbors.

But if the Holy Spirit abides in the disciples, how is it a special mark of the Mediator that [the Spirit] abides in him. . . . We shall better understand if we distinguish between the different gifts of the Spirit. . . . In respect of those gifts without which we cannot attain to salvation, the Holy Spirit ever abides in all the elect. But in respect of those that do not relate to our own salvation but to procuring that of others, [the Spirit] does not always abide in them. . . . For he sometimes withdraws his miraculous gifts so that his grace may be possessed with humility. . . . Christ . . . has him without measure and always.

The apostle says, The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.^[1] How then does the Lord say here, If you love me, keep my commandments, and [then] I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter? Notice he says this about the Holy Spirit. But without the Spirit we can neither love God nor keep his commandments. How can we love so that we will receive him when, without him, we cannot love at all? How can we keep the commandments so that we will receive him when, without him, we have no power to keep them? Or is it the case that the love by which we love Christ has a prior place in us so that by loving Christ in this way and keeping his commandments we become worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit so that the love of God the Father (not of Christ, which we already had) may be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us? That kind of thinking is all wrong. For whoever believes he loves the Son without loving the Father loves some figment of his own imagination, not the Son. . . .

We should therefore understand that whoever loves already has the Holy Spirit, and by having him he becomes worthy of having even more of him. And the more he has the Spirit the more he loves. The disciples already had the Holy Spirit whom the Lord promised. . . . But they did not yet have him in the way the Lord promised. And so they had him and did not have him inasmuch as they did not have to the extent that they would later. They had him in a more limited sense. He was later to be given to them more fully. They had him in a hidden way, but he was yet to be given to them more openly. . . . Let us admit then that without the Holy Spirit we can neither love Christ nor keep his commandments. [But it is also true that] the less experience we have of the Spirit’s presence, the less we can do, while the fuller our experience of the Spirit is, the greater is our ability. And so this is no empty promise of Jesus here—either to the one who does not have the Holy Spirit or to the one who has him. For the promise is made to the one who does not have the Spirit so that he may have him, and it is made to the one who does have the Spirit so that he may have him more abundantly.