On the Sabellians, the forty-second, and according to the general order, the sixty-second heresy

1. A certain Sabellius rebelled not very long ago; This is the new heretic, from whom the so-called Sabellians are descended. And he taught very closely to the Noaetians, except for a few things. This doctrine is held by many in Mesopotamia and within the borders of Rome, carried away by some kind of madness.

Sabellius, with the Sabellians descended from him, teaches that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, so that these are three names of one hypostasis, or as body, soul, and spirit in man. And the Father, so to speak, is the body, and the soul can be called the Son, and as in man is spirit, so in the Godhead is the Holy Spirit. Or as in the sun, although it is essentially one, there are three actions, i.e. to illuminate, and to warm, and even the most rounded appearance. And that which warms, or warmth and heat, is the Spirit, the enlightener is the Son, and the very form of all being is the Father. In due time the Son was sent as a ray, and He did everything in the world that pertains to the Gospel economy and the salvation of people, and then He ascended again into heaven, like a ray emitted by the sun and returned again to the sun. But the Holy Spirit is sent once for the whole world and then separately on each of those who are worthy of it; Such a one, by spiritual strength and closeness, so to speak, he enlivens and inflames, warms and makes warm. This is what the Sabellians teach.

2. They use all the writings of the Old and New Testaments, but they use only some sayings, which they themselves choose, according to their own invention of their damaged minds and foolishness. First of all, they use the words and sayings that God said to Moses, namely: "Hear Israel, the Lord your God is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Do not create for yourself other gods. Let there be no new gods for thee (Exodus 20:2-3) (Psalm 80:10), for I am the first God and I am after them (Isaiah 41:4), except Me there is none else (44:6). And everything that is like this, according to their own understanding, is adduced in confirmation of the same. Also from the Gospel are quoted the words: I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me, and we are two one (John 14:11; 10:30).

And all their error and the force of their error they received from certain false writings, especially from the so-called Egyptian Gospel, which some have given to it. For in this Gospel many similar things are set forth as if stealthily, mysteriously; it speaks on behalf of the Saviour, as if He Himself explains to the disciples that one and the same Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. And when they meet with one of the most simple-minded or inexperienced, who do not have a clear knowledge of the Divine Scriptures, they are confused for the first time by such words: what shall we say, dear ones? Do we have one God or three gods? When a God-fearing person, but imperfectly versed in the truth, hears this, immediately, confused in his mind, agrees with their error and turns out to be denying God, denying the existence of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

3. In all this, the age-old enemy of men acts by his suggestions, in order to deceive and seduce the majority of people from the path of truth: one in this way, the other in another. For in the holy Church of God it is clearly confessed and unanimously recognized that indeed God is one and there is no other. We do not teach polytheism, but we preach one-man rule. In preaching one-man rule, we do not fall into error, but confess the Trinity – the One in the Trinity and the Trinity in the One, and the one Divinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For the Son did not begat Himself, and the Father did not change so that from the Father He could be the Son, and the Holy Spirit never called Himself Christ, but the Spirit of Christ, given through Christ, proceeding from the Father and receiving from the Son. The Father has personal existence, the Son has personal existence, the Holy Spirit has personal existence, but the Trinity is not a mixture, as Sabellius thought, and does not change in its eternity and glory, as the superstitious Arius taught, but the Trinity has always been a Trinity, and never does the Trinity receive an addition being one Godhead, one dominion, being one glory. It is, however, numbered as the Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is not numbered in such a way that three names are called one, but the names are truly perfect, perfect and hypostases, and there is no change in them. The Father is always the Father, and there was no time when the Father was not the Father, He is always the perfect Father, having a personal existence; and the Son is always perfect, always having personal existence, truly begotten of the Father without beginning, pre-eternity, and ineffable, — not a brother of the Father, not having received a beginning of being, and never ceasing to exist, but always, as the true Son, existing with the Father, begotten of the Father before the time, equal to Him, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, uncreated. But He is not the Father Himself, and the Father is not the Son Himself. But if the Father is God, then both the Son and the Holy Spirit are God.

4. For the Spirit is always with the Father and the Son; He is not a brother of the Father, not begotten, not created, not a brother of the Son, not a grandson of the Father, He proceeds from the Father and receives from the Son; not another being with the Father and the Son, but one and the same being, one and the same Godhead, from the Father and the Son [ [222]], with the Father and the Son, always having personal existence, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Father, for it is said: "The Spirit of the Father speaketh in you" (Matt. 10:20); and again: "My Spirit will dwell in your midst" (Hagg. 2:6). He is the third in name, but equal in Divinity, indistinguishable from the Father and the Son, the union of the Trinity, the sealing of confession. For the Son says: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30), did not say: "I am one", but the words: "I am one", but the words: "I and the Father" mean that the Father has a personal being and the Son has a personal being, said: "Two", and did not say: one. And again: "I am one," and did not say: "I am one." In the same way he said: "Go ye baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19), and in the middle ones the conjunctions are placed with the syllables te, te and te. Matthew denounces Sabellius, who brings confusion of persons, for he designates truly the Father, truly the Son, truly the Holy Spirit. And when the Trinity is placed in one order and called by one name (in the name), then by this he exposes Arius, who invented in the Trinity some gradualness, or changeability, or difference, for although the Father is proclaimed in the teaching greater than the Son, nevertheless worthily grants glory to the Son. For who should glorify his Father if not the true Son? And again, wishing to show equality, so that some would not fall into error, considering Him as the Son, the lesser, He says thus: "He who does not honor the Son, as he honors the Father, has no life in himself" (John 5:23); and again: "All that the Father has, is mine" (John 16:15). What is the meaning of the words: "If I have the Father," if not that as the Father is God, so I am God; The Father is life, and I am life, the Father is eternal, and I am eternal: Everything that the Father has is my essence.

5. Look, Sabellius, and ponder, open the eyes of your heart, and be not blind; let your thought and those who have been deceived by you descend with Saint John to the Jordan. Open thy ears and listen to the voice of the prophet, saying: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness (Matt. 3:3). Listen to the Forerunner of the Lord, who was vouchsafed to receive the name of an angel, who received the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb and leaped up at Mary's entrance to Elizabeth. While he was still in his womb, he knew the coming of his Lord and leaped up. It was given to him to open the preaching and prepare the way of the Lord. Believe him, and you will not deviate from the goal of truth. As soon as he recognized his Lord, he testified, saying: "I have need of You, and Thou art coming to me." When the Saviour said: "Leave it now, that all righteousness may be fulfilled" (Matt. 3:15), and was baptized by him, then, as the Divine Gospel says, John testifies, saying, "The heavens were opened, and saw the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and coming upon Him, and a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased" (John 1:32; Matt. 3:16-17). O contentious husband! The father was in heaven, a voice came down from heaven. If the voice was from heaven, then I beseech you, consider your wrong opinion. To whom did the Father say: "This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased"? And who was this? Why did the Spirit descend in the form of a dove, although the Holy Spirit does not have a body? For the Only-begotten One alone clothed Himself in a body and was truly incarnate from the Ever-Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit. Not from the seed of men, but from Mary, He, the founding Word, formed Himself a body, as well as a human soul and mind, and to this day He remains a man, having taken everything into Himself completely and united with His Divinity, not so that He only dwelt in man (let this not be), but the Holy God Himself, the Word, became man.

6. Why does the Spirit appear in the form of a dove? In order to impress upon you, who wish to appear wise, but understand nothing rightly, that you should not utter blasphemy and think not to merge the Spirit with the Father or the Son. The Holy Spirit, having no body, takes the form of a dove in order to expose your error and show that the Spirit in itself has a personal existence; the Father has it, the Only-begotten has it, yet the Godhead is not divided, and His glory is not diminished. You see how the Trinity is numbered: the Father gives a voice from heaven, the Son is baptized in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove. Tell me again who has spoken this: Behold, my beloved servant shall understand, and in Him my soul shall be well pleased, and my Spirit shall lay down my Spirit, and shall proclaim judgment with the tongue. He will not speak, he will not cry out, his voice will be heard at the crossroads. He will not break broken reeds, nor quench the flax that is heard, until he will bring judgment to victory, etc. (Matt. 12:18-20; Isaiah 52:13; 42:1-3)? My husband is arguing! Can these words not contain an indication of the Trinity? Did the Father say this about Himself in the prophet? And who is this, of whom it is written: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand" (Psalm 109:1)? Or else, as the Gospel says, and ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19), and come to judge the living and the dead? Or again, how did you not be persuaded by the two men who appeared in white clothes and said to the disciples: Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking to heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will he also come (Acts 1:11)? Whom did Blessed Stephen see when he said: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56)? And you, ignorant of everything, who did not understand the voice of the Holy Scriptures, did more harm to yourself and to those who listened to you, falling away from the holy faith in the truth of God.

7. God truly said: I am the first, and I am after this, besides Me there is none else (Isaiah 44:6). It is true that there are not many gods, but there is one God, the first and after this, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, unmerged and indivisible in its unity; The Father truly begat the Son, and the Son is truly begotten of the Father and has a personal existence without beginning and before time, and the Holy Spirit is truly from the Father and the Son, has the same Divinity, proceeds from the Father and always receives from the Son — one God is the first and therefore is the same. This is also said in the person of Christ Himself for the sake of some other economy. Although Jesus Christ our Lord often appeared to the prophets and announced His future coming, some did not accept Him, expecting another in His place, therefore, so that the children of Israel, having gone mad and turned to the side of the superstitious worshippers and idols and those who introduced polytheism into the world, would not worship the idols of the Amorites, Hittites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Gergashites, Jebusites, Aruckees and Asannaites (Gen. 10:15-16), [As it is said of them, that they worshipped Beelphegor Chemosh, Astarte, Mazuroth, Neasta [224], and Beelzebath [225]] and other pagan idols], the Lord said to them, "I am the first to this one, that he may turn them away from the deception of the fables of the pagans, the worshippers of polytheism. And because they had to deny the coming of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, He also said to the Jews, I am the first, and after these things, the first, who came in the flesh, and after this is coming to judge the living and the dead, who suffered on the cross, was buried, and rose again, and with the same body ascended into heaven in glory, because the body received a share in the glory of His divinity, shone forth, is no longer subject to touch, and death is no longer partaker of, for Christ, as the Scripture says, is risen from the dead, and death does not possess him, says the Apostle (Romans 6:9). See how the accuracy [of the Scriptures] guides man, so that he does not deviate in any direction from the truth. When reason decided to produce polytheism, then man had to hear: "The Lord thy God, the Lord is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). When the children of Israel wait for another Christ, and not for the one who came, they will hear: I am the first and after this. I am alpha and omega (Rev. 1:18); the alpha (α) is open downwards, and the omega (ω) is opened upwards — let the speech be fulfilled: He who descended, he is also exalted above all principality, and authority, and dominion, and every name that is called (Ephesians 4:10; 1:21). And so that, reflecting on the words: "I am the first, and I am after these, I am the alpha and the omega, the Lord thy God the Lord is one, I am this" (Exodus 3:14), no one would deny Christ and the Holy Spirit, for this it is said: "My Father is greater than me" (John 14:28); and again: "That they may know Thee the only true God, and Whom Thou hast sent Jesus Christ" (17:3). This is said not in the sense that the Son is not the true God, but in order to raise the name of the Trinity to unity and to turn human thought from polytheism to one Godhead.

8. But if Arius, having gone astray in his mind, thinks that he alone is called the true God, i.e. the Father, and the Son, although he is God, is not true, he again exposes him in a different way, saying: "I am the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world" (John 8:12; 1:9). Of the Father it is said that God is light (1 John 1:5), and it is not said: "True light," so that from the name of God true and light true we may know the equality of the Godhead in the Father with the Son, and in the Son with the Father; and the Father is called light, and the Son is called God, without the addition of the word "true" here, and there was no need to speak, because there is no doubt, for the words God and light clearly show the one perfection of the same truth of both the Father in relation to the Son and the Son in relation to the Father. Thus all the folly of your delusion has been refuted. For the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Trinity is one Godhead, one glory, one dominion. To Him be glory and dominion, to the Father in the Son, to the Son in the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Having shaken this heresy as it were a Libyan serpent, or a frog, or a grass snake, or some other kind of creeping thing, very terrible, but not having the power to inflict harm by a bite, and trampling it up by the power of the Holy Trinity, let us, going forward in the order of heresies, call upon the very Protector of our poverty and poverty, that He may help us in a worthy manner to expose what is said and what happens in each heresy, and to refute them.

About the first Origenists, — they are shameful. Forty-third, and according to the general order sixty-third heresy

Hl. 1. Some heretics are called Origenists; This kind of heresy is not found everywhere. In my opinion, this heresy also appeared after those heresies. And why they are called Origenists, we do not know quite clearly, whether from Origen the adamantine, who was called Syntakt (the writer), or from someone else, I do not know. However, this name is accepted among us.